Clorindaia Linnavuori

Zahniser, James N., 2021, Revision of the New World leafhopper tribe Faltalini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) and the evolution of brachyptery, Zootaxa 4954 (1), pp. 1-160 : 40-41

Clorindaia Linnavuori

Type species: Clorindaia hecaloides Linnavuori, 1975 ; designated.

Clorindaia Linnavuori, 1975: 51 [original description, morphology, illustration, new species]; Linnavuori & DeLong, 1977: 199–200 [key, purported distribution]; Cwikla & Blocker, 1981: 173 [note]; Blocker & Fang, 1992: 341–344 [new species]; Oman et al., 1990: 201 [catalogue]; Zahniser & Webb, 2004: 669 [new species, key]; Paradell & Remes Lenicov, 2005: 133–136 [discussion, morphology, illustration, distribution]; Remes Lenicov & Paradell, 2009: 263–269 [discussion, illustrated, key, distribution]; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2010: 508 [classification]; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2013: 85 [classification]; Paradell & Zahniser, 2018: 293–295 [neotype designated for type species, morphology, illustration, distribution]; Zahniser, 2007 [online catalogue]; Freytag & Gaiani, 2017 [online catalogue]

Diagnosis. Clorindaia can be distinguished from other genera of the tribe by the brachypterous males and females, forewing venation reticulated, anterior margin of head with sharp carina traversing most of its length, discal texture of crown smooth, ocelli present midway between eye and head apex and situated on crown posterad of anterior margin, crown length at most 1.5x interocular width, anterior margin of head thin, texture of frontoclypeus predominantly smooth and shiny, male pygofer without long macrosetae, and male pygofer without posteroventral tooth or claw.

Body. Male, 3.9–5.0 mm. Female. 4.5–6.0 mm. Body length 3.3x width of pronotum (male), 3.8x (female). Anterior margin of head thin, foliaceous; sharply angled from crown to face; with sharp carina traversing most of margin. Crown length (males and females) 0.7x–1.1x interocular width; texture mostly smooth, with some rugae near anterior margin; mostly flat or upturned at apical 1/3. Ocelli distant from eyes, situated about midway between eye and crown apex; on crown distinctly posterad of sharp anterior margin. Frontoclypeus texture nearly entirely smooth, with irregular faint reticulations posteroventrally; flat or somewhat inflated anterodorsally. Antennal sockets situated near middle of eye. Pronotum straplike; lateral margin carinate; texture mostly smooth, shiny anteriorly, posteriorly with transverse furrows. Scutellum texture mostly rugose, partly shagreen. Protrochanter with stout AV seta and with several smaller, stout setae. Profemur row AV with ~10–12 relatively long thick setae; intercalary row with ~6–8 long thin setae; AM1 present; dorsally with pair of apical setae. Protibia dorsal macrosetae 4+4. Mesofemur row AV with numerous short, stout setae. Mesotibia dorsal macrosetae 4+4 or 5+4. Metafemur apical setae 2+2+1. Metatibia arched throughout length. Metatarsomere I short, about as long as II and III combined; plantar surface with two rows of tapered setae, both rows with setae nearly equal in length; apex with row of 5 platellae flanked on each side by tapered seta. Brachypterous. Forewing venation reticulated. Hindwing short, lobelike; anterior margin of hindwing meeting metanotum near midlength or closer to posterior margin; posterior margin of hindwing not differentiated beyond posterior margin of metanotum.

Color. General color whitish to yellowish. Crown with pair of short dark lines at apex; with mosaic of intertwining ivory lines and interspersing dark markings. Face mostly pale and sometimes with brown markings anteriorly, below eye, and on clypellus; sutures sometimes embrowned. Pronotum with three pairs of loosely defined ivory stripes, with some reticulation of these lines with intervening darker coloration. Forewing reticulated, veins ivory, pits between veins mostly tawny; posteriorly with one or two pairs of dark spots. Abdomen with three pairs of ivory stripes, bordered by dark brown, as in pronotum; central pair of lines partly contiguous. Pygofer of male and female mostly whitish to yellowish with some brown to dark brown markings.

Male. Pygofer incised dorsally at most halfway from apex to base, strongly sclerotized on basal half; without teeth or processes; without long macrosetae, with or without short thick setae posteriorly on pygofer side. Subgenital plates short, triangular or rounded to bluntly angulate apex; with or without sublateral row of short macrosetae; with numerous scattered short setae. Valve triangular. Connective short; stem shorter than anterior arms, broad. Style broadly bilobed at base; with rounded preapical lobe; apophysis short, thick, pointed at apex; texture tuberculate. Aedeagus with broad base, out of which narrower shaft arises posteriorly; shaft symmetrical or asymmetrical; with either or both apical paired and unpaired processes; articulated with connective. Phragma sclerotized inside of pygofer apex as pair of dorsoventrally elongated plates, variously shaped. Segment X mostly membranous.

Female. Pygofer with few short macrosetae ventrally and near apex. Ovipositor extending somewhat beyond pygofer apex. Sternite VII short, broad; broadly incised medially; with dark markings medially. First valvula relatively straight in lateral view; dorsal sculpturing pattern granulose, submarginal with distinct unsculptured band on dorsal margin; VSA present, distinctly delimited, sculpturing granulose. Second valvula somewhat broad, without dorsal teeth. Gonoplac with numerous short stout ventroapically.

Distribution. Argentina, Brazil

Remarks. Paraclorindaia brasileira (Zahniser) is removed from Clorindaia here based on the refined definition of Clorindaia and the description of the new genus Paraclorindaia . P. brasileira has the ocelli close to the anterior margin of the head, anterior margin of the head not carinate, male pygofer with several macrosetae, and male pygofer with posteroventral claw, which justifies removal from Clorindaia and placement in Paraclorindaia . The two genera share the texture of the frontoclypeus which is mostly smooth and shiny.

Clorindaia (three members included in the phylogenetic analysis here) was resolved as monophyletic, but its relationship to other genera of the Faltala group was not clear. Based on the smooth and shiny texture of the frontoclypeus and some similarity in the color pattern of the crown, it may be most closely related to Paraclorindaia .

Included species: