Pedana, Moulds & Marshall, 2022

Moulds, Max & Marshall, David C., 2022, New genera and new species of Western Australian cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), Zootaxa 5174 (5), pp. 451-507 : 465-466

Pedana gen. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:663DE68B-A66D-4EF0-B3CB-7AB45020715A

( Figs 2 , 17 , 27–29 )

Type species. Pedana hesperia sp. n., here designated.

Included species. Pedana hesperia sp. n.

Etymology. Named from the Greek pedanos meaning short, and referring to the short wings of this species. Feminine.

Distribution ( Figs 17b , 27 ). Drier regions of southern Western Australia and South Australia and north-western Victoria.

Diagnosis ( Figs 2 , 28 ). Head including eyes narrower than mesonotum; distance between supra-antennal plate and eye about equal to length of supra-antennal plate; postclypeus broadly rounded transversely across ventral midline, in lateral profile angulate between ‘top’ and ‘sides’. Thorax: pronotum in dorsal view parallel-sided or widening towards posterior; pronotal collar width at dorsal midline much less than diameter of eyes; paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites, no mid lateral tooth; cruciform elevation with its dome wider than long; epimeral lobe not reaching operculum. Forewings hyaline; short, no longer than length of body including head; with eight apical cells; subapical cells absent; ulnar cell 3 angled to radial cell; radial cell shorter than cubital cell; basal cell long and narrow; costal vein (C) clearly higher than R+Sc; costa parallel-sided to node; costa of male gently and evenly curved; pterostigma present; vein CuA only weakly bowed so that cubital cell no wider than medial cell; veins M and CuA unfused at basal cell but very close, rarely meeting; vein CuA 1 divided by crossvein m-cu so that proximal portion shortest; distance between crossveins r and r-m much less than between r-m and m except in aberrant specimens; radial cell very short (shorter than cubital cell); wing outer margin developed for its total length, never reduced to be contiguous with ambient vein. Hindwings with 6 apical cells; no infuscation on ambient vein; width of 1st cubital cell at distal end more than twice that of 2nd cubital cell; anal lobe of medium width with vein 3A curved, long, and separated from wing margin. Foreleg femoral primary spine erect. Male opercula more or less reaching margin of tympanal cavity, directed towards distomedial margin of tympanal cavity, apically broadly rounded, not meeting. Male abdomen wider than thorax; in cross-section with sides of tergites straight or weakly convex; epipleurites reflexed ventrally from junction with tergites; tergite 2 wide along midline, wider than any other of tergites 3–7; sternites III–VII convex in cross-section not unusually swollen. Timbals with three long ribs, two long and one short but ill-defined; anterior part of timbal mostly occupied by ribs; basal plate large; timbals extended below the level of the wing bases; posterior margin of timbal cavity rounded and completely lacking a ridge on lower half or so.

Male genitalia ( Figs 28a–d ). Pygofer in ventral view ovoid to sub ovoid, distal portion of upper pygofer lobes not the widest point, not strongly tapered from upper pygofer lobes to base; pygofer with distal shoulders not developed; upper lobes flat, small to moderately developed, set well away from dorsal beak, rounded; basal lobes undivided, moderately developed, broadly rounded in lateral view, abutted against or partly tucked behind pygofer margin; dorsal beak present as a pointed apex (visible in dorsal view) and a part of chitinized pygofer. Uncus small, short, flattened, more or less duck-bill shaped. Claspers well developed, large, dominant; restraining aedeagus; wide in both ventral and lateral views, outer face with a deep overhanging lip along margin; unfused; distally diverging but their apices not widely separated, markedly less than the widest dimensions of the claspers. Aedeagus not trifid, with basal plate in lateral view undulated, weakly depressed on dorsal midline, in dorsal view longer than broad, apically broadened with ‘ears’; ventral rib completely fused with basal plate; junction between theca and basal plate with a functional ‘hinge’ that possesses a chitinous back; thecal shaft gently and evenly curved; pseudoparameres long, slender, dorsal of theca and originating at its base, unfused throughout their length, parallel in dorsal view, in lateral view aligned with thecal shaft for much of its length; endotheca concealed; ventral support absent; flabellum absent; conjunctival claws absent; vesical opening apical on theca.

Female sternite VIII deeply incised in a V shape; abdominal segment 9 about as long as wide; dorsal beak with a developed apical spine (visible in dorsal view).

Distinguishing features and relationships. A small cicada. Differs from all genera in having, in combination, forewing veins M and CuA unfused at basal cell but very close, rarely meeting; the paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites and without a mid lateral tooth, a very short forewing radial cell (shorter than the cubital cell), and forewings that are very short (no longer than the length of the body including the head). The male genitalia have an aedeagus that is not trifid, with long pseudoparameres that are dorsal of the theca and ori g inate at its base.

The wings and body are similar in many ways to those of Noongara issoides ( Distant, 1905) but the male genitalia show marked differences. The aedeagus of N. issoides is typically trifid whereas that of Pedana lacks a ventral support and has long slender pseudoparameres that originate at the thecal base. Unlike in Noongara , the timbals of Pedana are extended below the level of the wing bases.

A molecular phylogeny by Marshall et al. (2016: fig. 2) places Pedana hesperia sp. n. (the type species of Pedana and represented in their tree by “false quintilia”) in a clade that is sister to Noongara issoides . These two genera are in turn sister to Calipsalta gen. n. (represented by “spinifex rattler” and “false hermannsburgensis”), all genera with a strong presence in Western Australia.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. (1a) Illyria viridis sp. n., male; (1b) Illyria viridis sp. n., female; (2) Pedana hesperia gen. et sp. n., male; (3a) Chrysocicada trophis sp. n., male; (3b) Chrysocicada trophis sp. n., female; (4) Parvopsalta victoriae gen. et sp. n., male; (5) Ewartia adusta sp. n., female; (6) Pegapsaltria lutea gen. et sp. n., male; (7a) Kalarko ferruginosus gen. et sp. n., male; (7b) Kalarko ferruginosus gen. et sp. n., female.

FIGURES 15–20. Live adults and their habitats. (15a) Illyria viridis sp. n., male singing; (15b) same species, type locality; (16a) Chrysocicada trophis sp. n., mating pair; (16b) same species, type locality; (17a) Pedana hesperia gen. et sp. n., male calling; (17b) same species, type locality; (18a) Ewartia adusta sp. n., male; (18b) same species, type locality; (19a) Erempsalta hermannsburgensis (Distant, 1907), male calling in its usual upside-down position; (19b) same species, favoured adult host plant; (20a) Calipsalta brunnea gen. et sp. n., male; (20b) same species, habitat near Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater, close to type locality. Not to scale.

FIGURES 27–28. Pedana hesperia sp. n. (27) distribution; (28a) male genitalia in lateral view; (28b) same in ventral view; (28c) dissected aedeagus in lateral view; (28d) basal plate in dorsal view.

FIGURE 29. Pedana hesperia sp. n., male calling song. (29a, b) oscillogram and spectrogram of a short segment from the holotype locality (ca. 27°C); (29c, d) further detail of pulse structure.