Smilidarnis similifasciatus, McKamey, 2024

McKamey, Stuart H., 2024, A new species of the Neotropical genus Smilidarnis Andrade (Hemiptera, Membracidae), with a new country record for the genus, ZooKeys 1219, pp. 135-142 : 135-142

Smilidarnis similifasciatus sp. nov.

Diagnosis.

Pronotum without suprahumeral spines; brightly colored with orange, yellow, and black; most lateral yellow band bifurcate posteriorly, lower arm running along almost entirety of lateral margin.

Distribution.

Bolivia (new country record for genus), French Guiana.

Description.

Dimensions (mm). Pronotal length ♀ 10.3–10.8, ♂ 9.8–9.9; total length including wings in repose ♀ 12.1–12.6, ♂ 11.5; width between humeral angles ♀ 4.7–4.8, ♂ 4.5–4.7; head width including eyes ♀ 3.9–4.0, ♂ 3.7–3.9, head width excluding eyes ♀ 2.7–2.8, ♂ 2.5–2.7; head height ♀ 1.7–1.8, ♂ 1.7–1.8; distance between apices of posterolateral spine apices ♀ 2.6–2.9, ♂ 2.4–2.6. Head (Figs 3 , 6 ). Vertex inclined forward, wider than tall, glabrous, vertical dark lines including ocelli depressed; dorsal margin weakly convex, lateral margins straight; ocelli circular, on imaginary middle line between eyes; distance from outer margin of ocellus to eye 1.13 × distance between inner margins of ocelli; frontoclypeal sutures prominent; frontoclypeus in anterior view ventrally convex, in line with vertex ventrolateral margins. Pronotum (Figs 1–6 ). Suprahumeral spines absent; weakly elevated immediately behind humeral angles; distally with 3 spines, all directed ventroposteriorly, lateral pair directed weakly laterally; lateral spines reaching to leveI above r-m crossvein, central spine surpassing forewing vein M 3 + 4. Legs. All femora lacking cucullate setae and spines; metathoracic tibia row I cucullate setae basally in single row, distally double, row II in single row, sparse and with minute basal hoods, row III cucullate setae in single row. Female terminalia. Sternite VII deeply emarginate medially; pygofer long; valvula I (Fig. 10 ) long, with one weak, wide dorsal process distally, apex rounded; valvula II (Figs 11 , 12 ) in lateral view narrow and lanceolate with dorsal margin linear, lacking dorsal dentae or sinuations, apex subacute, ventrally striate; gonoplac (Fig. 13 ) long, distally wide, apex rounded, bearing macrosetae along entire ventral margin. Male terminalia (Figs 7–9 ). Abdominal segment X (1 st anal segment) with basaoventral lobe (Fig. 7 ); pygofer (Fig. 7 ) including lateral plate subquadrate, lateral plate with weak dorsal lobe, ovate, pilose throughout, subgenital plate fused basally, its sides subparallel, slightly narrowing distally, length in ventral view about 2.3 × width; style (Figs 8 , 9 ) recurved with short acute apex bearing 4 setae preapically; aedeagus (Figs 8 , 9 ) U-shaped in lateral view, shaft subparallel in anterior and lateral views, lacking dentae or other texture on distoanterior face but with minute dentae along lateral margins (Fig. 9 ); gonopore dorsal. Color. Male and female alike in color; pronotal color orange with 5 yellow longitudinal bands, medial and most lateral band nearly extending to large yellow spot in posterior fifth, most lateral longitudinal band bifurcate at mid length into 2 solid branches, 1 running along lateral margin, and black at bases and apices of posterior spines; head orange with 3 vertical yellow bands connecting to medial and closest yellow bands of pronotum; forewing anteriorly clear, posteriorly with amber tint.

Material examined.

Smilidarnis similifasciatus , holotype • ♂ with labels “ BOLIVIA, Dept. Santa Cruz | Prov. Andres Ibañez, Potreillos del Guenda , 17°40.27’S, | 63°27.45’W, 370 m, 5 Dec 2008 | T. J. Henry, at MV / black light ” and red label “ HOLOTYPE | Smilidarnis | similifasciatus | McKamey ” ( USNM) . Paratypes • 4 ♀, 1 ♂, all same data as holotype but with blue paratype labels ( USNM) .

Etymology.

The specific name is a masculine Latin adjective based on a combination of “ similis ” (similar to) and the allied species “ fasciatus ”.

Discussion.

Smilidarnis fasciatus and S. similifasciatus key out in the same couplet because they are superficially similar. Nevertheless, they differ in several respects. Regarding coloration, in the new species all yellow stripes are longer in both males and females than those of S. fasciatus . Regarding metathoracic tibia, cucullate setal rows are double rows in S. fasciatus but single rows in the new species (row I distally double). Regarding terminalia, in the new species the pygofer and lateral plate combined is more quadrate than in S. fasciatus , the lateral plate itself is ovate (vs. subquadrate in S. fasciatus ), segment X has a basoventral lobe present (vs. absent in S. fasciatus ), and the aedeagal dentae are lateral (vs. on the face of the shaft in S. fasciatus ).

The female habitus photographs by Lapèze (2021) match the illustration of S. fasciatus by Andrade (1989), while the photograph by Sakakibara ( Deitz and Wallace 2010) corresponds to S. similifasciatus . Both species, therefore, are recorded from French Guiana. The S. similifasciatus male terminalia is most similar to that of S. erwini McKamey (2023) in that both have abdominal segment X bearing a basoventral lobe and the aedeagus lacking dentae or other texture on the dorsoanterior face of the shaft. The female genitalia of S. fasciatus has not been described so no comparison with that species is possible here, and only the second valvulae of S. concolor has been illustrated and described. The female genitalia of S. similifasciatus resembles those of S. duocornus , S. robustus and the second valvulae of S. concolor , in having the first valvulae long and narrow with poorly developed dentae distally, the second valvulae lanceolate, and the gonoplac distally wide with long setae ventrally.

Although the Bolivian males of the new species are slightly smaller than the lengths given by Andrade (1989) and Lapèze (2021) for S. fasciatus , in S. similifasciatus the four females are all larger than both males in every respect except head height, in contrast to Lapèze’s (2021) opposite finding about the relative lengths of genders of S. fasciatus in French Guiana. Also, the females of S. similifasciatus are longer than those of S. fasciatus as reported by Lapèze (2021).

Figures

Figures 1–6. Smilidarnis similifasciatus sp. nov. 1–3 male habitus in dorsal. lateral, and anterior views, respectively 4–6 female habitus in dorsal, lateral, and anterior views, respectively. Scale bar: 5 mm.

Figures 7–13. Smilidarnis similifasciatus sp. nov. 7 male pygofer, lateral view 8, 9 aedeagus and styles in dorsanterior and oblique view, respectively 10 female valvula I 11, 12 female valvula II 13 gonoplac.