Dorisiana semilata ( Walker, 1850 )

Sanborn, Allen F., 2020, The cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of Trinidad and Tobago including the description of three new species and seven new records, with new records for several additional Caribbean Islands, Zootaxa 4838 (4), pp. 535-565 : 541-542

Dorisiana semilata ( Walker, 1850)

Cicada semilata Walker 1850: 122 . ( St. Lucia, Antilles and Cayenne, French Guiana)

Cicada passer Walker 1850: 124 . ( Venezuela)

Cicada brizo Walker 1850: 125 . (Unknown collection locality)

Cicada melisa Walker 1850: 127 . ( Venezuela)

Cicada melina Walker 1850: 128 . (Unknown collection locality)

Cicada panyases Walker 1850: 133 . ( British Guiana)

Cicada pidytes Walker 1850: 134 . (Unknown collection locality)

Cicada physcoa Walker 1850: 135 . (Unknown collection locality)

Cicada braure Walker 1850: 136 . (Pará, Brazil)

Cicada solennis Walker 1850: 143 . ( St. Lucia, Antilles)

Remarks. Metcalf (1963a) synonymized a number of species but they may not all represent the same species. For example, D. metcalfi was removed from synonymy after it was shown that the genitalia of the species differed from D. semilata ( Sanborn & Heath 2014) . The relatively short descriptions in Walker (1850), often based on wing vein orientations and positions, may mean that additional synonymized species are in fact valid taxa and should be resurrected. Metcalf (1963a, b) synonymized multiple species without justification, probably as a result of the abbreviated descriptions, that have since been resurrected (see summary in species list of Sanborn 2013).

Dorisiana semilata is a species presenting a greenish tawny head and thorax with ochraceous abdomen. It is similar in general appearance to Guyalna bogotana ( Distant, 1892b) but can be distinguished by the triangular timbal cover with ventral margin angled dorsally to the long body axis distinguishing it as a species of Dorisiana . In addition, D. semilata is a wider species with a more rotund mesothorax. The transverse fascia through the ocelli is thick and generally complete, there is a transverse piceous fascia on the posterior the head, and the anterior and posterior extensions from the lateral angle of the pronotal collar are about the same size in D. semilata .

Distribution. The species has been reported from a wide geographic range. Records for the species have been published for Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, St. Lucia, the Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela ( Metcalf 1963a; Duffels & van der Laan 1985; Dorval et al. 2011; Sanborn 2011a, b; 2013; 2014; 2019a; 2020b; Sanborn & Heath 2014). Previous records to Panama ( Sanborn 2018) and Ecuador ( Sanborn 2020d) are in error. The range may be refined significantly in the future if some of the synonyms turn out to be valid species. Distant (1883), Cobben (1965), Sanborn (2007a; 2010; 2011a), and Sanborn & Heath (2014) report the species from Trinidad but without specific locality data.