Purohita castaneus, Li, Hong-Xing, Yang, Lin & Chen, Xiang-Sheng, 2019

Li, Hong-Xing, Yang, Lin & Chen, Xiang-Sheng, 2019, Two new species of the bamboo-feeding planthopper genus Purohita Distant from China (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Delphacidae), ZooKeys 855, pp. 85-94 : 88-89

Purohita castaneus sp. nov. Figs 1-12

Type material.

Holotype: ♂, China: Yunnan, Yingjiang County (24°44'N, 97°33'E), on bamboo, 17 August 2018, Hong-Xing Li; paratypes, 1♂, 3♀♀, same data as holotype, Hong-Xing Li and Qiang Luo.

Etymology.

Specific epithet derived from " castaneus ", referring to the brown color of the pronotum and mesonotum.

Measurements.

Body length (from apex of vertex to tip of tegmina): male 4.6-4.8 mm (n = 2); female 5.1-5.3 mm (n = 3); tegmen length: male 3.9-4.0 mm (n = 2); female 4.4-4.7 mm (n = 3).

Diagnosis.

The salient features of the new species include the following: pygofer with medioventral processes forming a bifurcate hook, apices directed dorsomedially, and each side with a large triangular process (Fig. 7).

Description.

Coloration. General color brown (Figs 1-6). Vertex yellowish brown. Frons with basal half brown speckled with milky white, thence milky white to apical quarter, the apical quarter yellowish brown. Genae milky white at basal two thirds and yellow at apical third. Clypeus yellowish brown. Rostrum black brown at apex. Antennae brown. Eyes reddish brown, ocelli red. Pronotum yellowish green, with lateral margins milky white. Mesonotum yellowish brown. Tegmina hyaline, veins with small hair-bearing granules, apical half bordered with black brown markings. Wings hyaline. Legs with longitudinal stripes, dark brown.

Head and thorax. Vertex (Figs 1, 3) shorter in middle line than wide at base (0.71: 1), width at apex narrower than at base (0.31: 1), anterior margin distinct sinuate, Y-shaped carina with stalk indistinct, with very short arms. Frons (Fig. 4) longer at mid line than wide at widest part, about 1.73: 1, widest at apex. Base of postclypeus wider than apex of frons. Antennae (Fig. 4) with first segment rectangular, with central ridge, longer in middle line than widest part about 3.86: 1, longer than the second about 1.5: 1. Pronotum (Figs 1, 3) slightly shorter than vertex (0.73: 1). Mesonotum longer in middle line than vertex and pronotum together, about 2.08: 1, median carina reaching the end of scutellum, lateral carinae not attaining hind margin. Tegmen (Fig. 6) longer than widest portion about 3.58: 1. Spinal formula of hind leg 5-6-4.

Male genitalia. Anal segment (Figs 7, 8) at widest part narrower than pygofer, large, broad and flattened dorsoventrally. Anal style moderately long. Pygofer (Figs 7-9) with medioventral processes forming a bifurcate hook, apices directed dorsomedially, in lateral view, ventral margin of pygofer much longer than dorsal. Aedeagus (Fig. 10) with phallus slender, long, acute at apex, almost attached to ventral margin of pygofer, in lateral view, phallus turned in right angle at apical half. Phallobasal process rising from the base, long, blunt oval at apex. Genital styles (Figs 11, 12) large, curved inward at apical half, with basal half broad, then become of slender gradually, acute at apex.

Plant associations.

Bamboo.

Distribution.

Southwest China (Yunnan).

Remarks.

This species is similar to P. taiwanensis Muir, 1914 but differs from it by: (1) pygofer (Figs 7, 9) with medioventral processes forming a bifurcate hook, apices directed dorsomedially (medioventral processes with apices directed dorsolaterally in P. taiwanensis ); (2) sides of medioventral processes of pygofer (Fig. 7) each with a large triangular process (sides of medioventral processes each with a process enlarging at apex, apical margin truncate in P. taiwanensis ); (3) genital styles (Fig. 11) in posterior view basal half distinctly wider than apical half (genital styles in posterior view basal half slightly wider than apical half in P. taiwanensis ).

This species is also similar to P. sinica Huang & Ding, 1979 but differs from it by: (1) pygofer (Figs 7, 9) with medioventral processes forming a bifurcate hook, without tooth on outer margin (medioventral process flattened, each with a small tooth on outer margin in P. sinica ); (2) medioventral processes of pygofer (Figs 7, 9) with apices directed dorsomedially (medioventral processes with apices directed dorsolaterally in P. sinica ); (3) sides of medioventral processes of pygofer (Fig. 7) each with a triangular process, which at a distance from the medioventral processes (each with a triangular process near the medioventral processes in P. sinica ).