Levigata, Cao & Dmitriev & Dietrich & Zhang, 2019

Cao, Yanghui, Dmitriev, Dmitry A., Dietrich, Christopher H. & Zhang, Yalin, 2019, New taxa and new records of Erythroneurini from China (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 59 (1), pp. 189-210 : 192-193

Levigata gen. nov.

Type species. Levigata arborea sp. nov., here designated.

Description. Body medium-sized. Forewing with black patches along costal margin at each end of brochosome field, basal triangles of mesonotum black. Crown fore margin weakly produced and rounded apically, head as wide as pronotum, coronal suture obvious in basal half. Ocelli rudimentary. Face short, anteclypeus broad and short, narrowing towards apex, lorum small. Pronotum with hind margin slightly concave. Forewing with first and third apical cells wide; fourth apical cell very short and narrow, shorter than half length of third apical cell; AA andAP absent. Hind wing venation usual for Erythroneurini, RA present.

Abdominal apodemes 2S small, with apodemes 3T.

Male terminalia. Anal tube with appendages. Genital capsule cylindrical, with single basolateral macroseta surrounded by few fine setae, hind margin with some rigid setae on inner membrane; dorsal appendage stick-like, articulated to lobe; ventral appendage absent. Subgenital plate narrow and long, surpassing hind margin of pygofer side, apex truncate, slightly narrower than basal part, with dense row of few macrosetae along outer margin subapically, ventral side well sclerotized and smooth, without microsetae, dorsal side membranous, with row of microsetae along central furrow and several microsetae near middle of outer margin. Style with slender apical part, preapical lobe very small, with some sensory pits medially. Connective lamellate, central lobe well developed. Aedeagal shaft short, curved dorsad, inner side and apex membranous; dorsal apodeme small, but well developed; preatrium slim, much longer than shaft.

Diagnosis. The new genus is similar to Aylala Dworakowska, 1994 in body shape, markings of scutellum and forewings, wing venation, and shape of the subgenital plate and connective, but the new genus has anal tube appendages (absent in Aylala ), its subgenital plate is smooth ventrally and with microsetae dorsally, and the aedeagus is also quite distinctive.

Etymology. The generic name is a newly-created noun derived from the Latin “ levigatus ”, perfect passive participle of the verb “ levigo ” which means “to make smooth”, referring to the smooth ventral surface of the subgenital plate. The gender is feminine.

Diversity and distribution. The genus is described as monotypic from southern China.