Euthemopsaltria, Moulds, 2014

Moulds, M. S., 2014, Euthemopsaltria laeta, a remarkable new genus and species of cicada (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae: Chlorocystini) from Queensland, Australian Entomologist 41 (4), pp. 177-190 : 177-178

Genus Euthemopsaltria gen. n.

( Figs 1-12 )

Type species: Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n., by present designation.

Diagnosis. Green cicadas of medium size ( Figs 1-2 ). Head including eyes narrow, considerably less than mesonotum; supra-antennal plate meeting or nearly meeting eye; postclypeus angulate in transverse cross-section, in lateral profile angulate between ‘top’ and ‘sides’. Thorax. Pronotal collar width at dorsal midline narrow, much less than diameter of eyes; paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites, no mid lateral tooth. Cruciform elevation wider than long. Epimeral lobe not reaching operculum. Metanotum partly visible at dorsal midline. Forewings ( Fig. 4 ) hyaline with distinct green suffusion; some 20-30 apical cells; a series of approximately 20 subapical cells; ulnar cell 3 substantially parallel to radial cell; basal cell long and narrow; costal vein (C) clearly higher than R+Sc; costa broadest a little before node; pterostigma absent; vein CuA nearly straight, weakly bowed so that cubital cell no wider than medial cell; veins M and CuA close together at basal cell but not touching; vein CuA1 divided by crossvein m-cu more or less equally; veins CuP and 1A fused in part; infuscations absent; wing outer margin greatly reduced and virtually contiguous with ambient vein. Hind wings ( Fig. 5 ) with approximately 9-11 apical cells; no infuscation on ambient vein; width of 1st cubital cell at distal end at least twice that of 2nd cubital cell; anal lobe broad with vein 3A curved, long, separated from wing margin; veins RP and M fused basally. Foreleg femoral primary spine cylindrical, tending towards lying flat but not quite so. Male opercula clearly not meeting, distant from lateral margin of tympanal cavity, directed towards distomedial margin of tympanal cavity, clearly raised above level of tympanal cavity on its outer half; inner margin straight; apically tapering to a blunt point. Male abdomen ( Fig. 3 ) markedly inflated, substantially hollow, obtuse; male tergites in cross-section with sides concave, lateroventrally rounded to ventral surface; male tergites 2 and 3 similar in size to tergites 4- 7; male sternites 3-7 in cross-section convex. Timbal covers absent. Timbal ribs ( Fig. 6 ) many (approximately 11-13), regular in size and closely spaced filling entire timbal area apart from basal dome; timbals extended below wing bases.

Male genitalia ( Figs 7-10 ). Pygofer with distal shoulder not developed; upper lobe and basal lobe ill-defined, substantially confluent with pygofer margin; dorsal beak present and a part of chitinized pygofer. Uncus undeveloped, globular. Claspers large, dominant, claw-like, restraining aedeagus. Aedeagus with basal plate in lateral view undulated, weakly depressed on dorsal midline; in dorsal view short, tending rounded, apically indented; basal portion of basal plate directed forwards away from thecal shaft; ventral rib completely fused with basal plate; junction between theca and basal plate rigid, without a ‘hinge’; thecal shaft barely ‘S’-shaped; pseudoparameres absent; thecal apex entirely chitinised, thecal subapical cerci absent; legula absent; conjunctival claws absent; vesica retractable, vesical opening apical on theca. Male reproductive system unknown.

Female reproductive system ditrysian; length of accessory glands unknown.

Distinguishing features. Readily distinguished by the forewing venation, which has from 20 to 30 long apical cells and about 15 to 20 subapical cells; also the forewing usually carries a distinct green suffusion, evenly distributed. The hind wing has approximately 9 apical cells. Like many other Chlorocystini the male abdomen is markedly inflated. The head is narrow and considerably less than the width of the mesonotum. The aedeagus lacks appendages.

Included species. Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n. The genus is monotypic. Etymology. From the Greek euthemon, meaning well-arranged or neat and referring to the neatly arranged parallel forewing veins, and from psaltria, a traditional ending for cicada generic names probably originating from the Latin meaning a female harpist. Feminine.

Figures

Figs 1-2. Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n.: (1) live male, lateral view; (2) live female, lateral view. Photos Stan and Kaisa Breeden.

Figs 3-8. Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n., male: (3) abdomen, ventral view; (4) forewing; (5) hind wing; (6) timbal; (7) aedeagus, lateral view; (8) basal plate, dorsal view, apex at bottom. op operculum; ti timbal; ty tympanum; I-VII numbered sternites.

Figs 9-10. Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n., male genitalia: (9) lateral view; (10) ventral view with claspers spread apart. cl clasper; pyg pygofer; th theca of aedeagus.

Fig. 11. Map of northeastern Queensland centred around Cairns, showing distribution of Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n.; black dots indicate known localities.

Fig. 12. One of two equally parsimonious trees from a cladistic analysis derived using the procedure described in the text above (length 42, CI 73, RI 78) from an analysis employing Lembeja vitticollis as outgroup, with all characters unordered and equally weighted. Numbers at nodes are bootstrap values greater than 50% from 1,000 replications. Character transformations are shown at each node: black bars = nonhomoplasious forward change; grey bars = homoplasious forward change; white bars = reversal (whether homoplasious or not).