Pyropsalta amnica, 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 : 503-504

Pyropsalta amnica sp. n

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:542EACBC-D7F1-47DC-A7C5-6AE99A59DC6F

( Figs 13 , 59, 60 )

Etymology. From the Latin adjective amnicus meaning associated with a stream, and referring to the association of this species with trees growing in the vicinity of streams.

Types. Holotype male, Greenmount , Perth, Western Australia, 25.xi.1978, M.S. & B.J. Moulds ( WAME 113521 ) ( WAM) . Paratypes as follows: WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 4 males, 2 females, Greenmount , Perth, 25,26. xi.1978, M.S. & B.J. Moulds ; 2 males, 1 female, Canning R. & Rt. 4, Kelmscott, Perth, 1.xii.[19]97, D. Emery ( DE). 4 males, 2 females, Greenmount , Perth, 25,26. xi.1978, M.S. & B.J. Moulds ( LP). 48 males (3 genitalia preps CI 6, CI 7, PRY 4 ), 19 females, Greenmount , Perth, 25,26. xi.1978, M.S. & B.J. Moulds ( MSM). 3 males, 2 females, Kelmscott , Perth, xii.1990, P. Hutchinson, PMH Coll #CIC 1825, 1826, 1850, 1839, 1840 ; 1 female, Brookton Hwy , 7 km SE Kelmscott, 19.xii.2014, P. Hutchinson, to mv light, PMH Coll #CIC 1837 ; 1 male, 1 female, Beckenham , Perth, 13.xi.2015, 17.xi.2017, P. Hutchinson, to uv light, PMH Coll #CIC 1817, 1835 ; 1 female, Beckenham , Perth, xii.1991, P. Hutchinson, PMH Coll #CIC 1848 ; 1 female, Walyunga N.P., N Perth , 12.xii.2013, P. Kay, to mv light, PMH Coll #CIC 1841 ; 1 female, Mt Cook , 50 km S Armadale, 25.xi.2016, P. Hutchinson, to mv light, PMH Coll #CIC 1844 ; 1 male, 6 females, Albany Hwy , 25 km S Armadale, 28.xii.2012, 6,21. i.2012, 29.xii.2014, P. Hutchinson, to mv light, PMH Coll #CIC 1836, 1845, 1849, 1834, 1838, 1870, 1874 ; 1 male, 5 females, Albany Hwy , 25 km S Armadale, 28.xii.2011, 10,15. i.2012 ,, 21.xii.2014, P. Kay, to mv light, PMH Coll #CIC 1831, 1832, 1853, 1858, 1852, 1871 ; 4 females, Churchman’s Brook Dam, S Armadale , 18.i.2012 P.Kay, to mv light, PMH Coll #CIC 1862, 1866, 1867, 1863 ; 1 female, White Hills Rd. , S Mandurah, 25, xi.2014, P. Hutchinson, to light. // PMH Coll #CIC 1833 ( PH). 4 males, 2 females, Greenmount , Perth, 25,26. xi.1978, M.S. & B.J. Moulds ( WAME 113522-113527 ) ( WAM).

Distribution and habitat ( Fig. 59 ). Known only from the Perth hinterland from Walyunga National Park some 35 km north-east of Perth (P. Kay) to 50 km south of Armadale (P. Hutchinson). In the vicinity of Perth it is found at Beckenham, Kelmscott, Churchmans Brook Dam and Greenmount. The only locality near the coast is White Hills Road south of Mandurah (P. Hutchinson). There are records from mid November to mid January but adults appear to be most common during December. Adults favour Eucalyptus trees usually growing in the vicinity of water, where they tend to prefer the smaller branches. Mass emergences may not be unusual.

This species is found sympatrically with the closely similar Pyropsalta rhythmica sp. n. at Beckenham, Kelmscott, Churchmans Brook Dam, and 25 km and 50 km south of Armadale (P. Hutchinson).

Adult description. Male ( Figs 13a , 60 ). Head black, with supra-antennal plates partly or entirely orange or yellowish and usually a spot of similar colour on posterior margin near eye and a partly orange midline. Postclypeus black with orange margin ventrally and often also dorsally; usually with a partially orange ventral midline that is sometimes reduced to a spot. Anteclypeus usually entirely black. Rostrum dark brown becoming black distally; reaching apices of hind coxae. Thorax with pronotum either black or a mixture of black and orange in variable proportions, the dorsal midline entirely or partially orange or yellowish; pronotal collar black or dark brownish to varying degrees. Mesonotum black with a pair of orange markings from between submedian and lateral sigilla to anterior arms of cruciform elevation considerably variable in extent, sometimes fused at midline but always straight along their outer margins; cruciform elevation black or orange brown. Metanotum brown with a black dorsal midline and a narrow black streak laterally. Wings hyaline; without infuscations. Forewing venation black, sometimes tending brown on basal half; costal margin orange to nearly black; basal cell usually tinted light brown, sometimes hyaline; basal membrane orange but sometimes partly blackish. Hindwing venation black; without infuscations; plaga white to light brown with a black streak in jugum. Legs orange or yellowish, with black markings of variable extent, the black mostly confined to the forelegs and mid and hind femora and coxae. Opercula usually dark brown to blackish, occasionally yellow or yellowish brown, always black or tending so at base (epimeron 3). Abdomen with tergites black with orange banding dominating; tergite 1 glossy black with narrow orange anterior margin; tergite 2 black with a broad orange posterior margin not reaching auditory capsule and usually interrupted at dorsal midline; tergites 3–8 predominantly orange with black anterior margin to variable extents but often widest at dorsal midline. Sternites I and II black; sternites III and IV orange; sternites V and VI predominantly black with narrow distal margin; sternite VII predominantly black with yellow distal portion; sternite VIII yellow. Timbal cavity sharply angled along posterior margin and barely ridged. Timbals with three long ribs spanning the timbal membrane and fused dorsally, the most anterior one considerably widened on its lower half, and a fourth rudimentary long rib missing much of its central portion; the anterior third of the timbal membrane devoid of ribs except for one very thin rib tight against the most anterior part of timbal membrane.

Male genitalia ( Figs 60a–b ). Pygofer orange to yellowish. Basal lobes well developed but in lateral view mostly hidden; upper lobes large, in lateral view gradually tapering, slightly upturned, bluntly pointed. Claspers in lateral view broadly rounded distally, in ventral view with apex blunt but minutely bi-lobed, the outer lobe usually slightly longer than the other and sharply pointed. Aedeagus with pseudoparameres curved in lateral view, almost straight and diverging in dorsal view.

Female ( Fig. 13b ). Similar to male. Abdominal segment 9 long, in dorsal view at least half as long again as width of its base; orange with a subdorsal black fascia on basal two thirds that is widest at its base but otherwise slender usually with a small knobbed apex, and usually also a blurred black lateral patch below caudal beak. Ovipositor sheath black, projecting beyond dorsal beak by almost 2 mm.

Measurements. Range and mean (in mm) for 10 males, 10 females (includes smallest and largest of available specimens). Length of body (including head): male 16.7–20.7 (18.4); female (including ovipositor) 20.2–24.4 (23.0). Length of forewing: male 21.0–25.4 (23.4); female 25.1–29.6 (27.4). Width of head (including eyes): male 5.7–7.2 (6.3); female 6.5–7.8 (7.1). Width of pronotum (across lateral angles): male 5.7–7.3 (6.4); female 6.7–8.0 (7.4).

Distinguishing features. Males of Pyropsalta amnica sp. n. are difficult to separate from those of P. rhythmica sp. n. and are best distinguished by the black markings on tergites 5–7. In P. amnica all these are partly or entirely orange and are never completely bisected by black on any segment; in P. rhythmica these segments are either entirely black or if partly orange then the black always bisects the orange along the dorsal midline of each segment. Further, sternites III and IV in P. amnica lack distinct areas of black centrally, but in P. rhythmica these sternites have distinct central black markings.

Females can be distinguished by the length of the ovipositor sheath. In P. amnica the ovipositor sheath protrudes almost 2 mm beyond the dorsal beak, but in P. rhythmica it protrudes no more than 1 mm.

Song. This species’ song has not been recorded.

Figures

FIGURES 8–14. (8) Erempsalta hermannsburgensis (Distant, 1907), male; (9) Calipsalta fumosa gen. et sp. n., male; (10) Calipsalta viridans gen. et sp. n., female; (11) Calipsalta brunnea gen. et sp. n., male; (12a) Pyropsalta patula sp. n., male; (12b) Pyropsalta patula sp. n., female; (13a) Pyropsalta amnica sp. n., male; (13b) Pyropsalta amnica sp. n., female; (14a) Pyropsalta rhythmica sp. n., male (14b) Pyropsalta rhythmica sp. n., female.

FIGURES 59–60. Pyropsalta amnica sp. n. (59) distribution; (60a) male genitalia in lateral view; (60b) same in ventral view.