Allodrilus similis Evangelista

Evangelista, Olivia, Flórez-V, Camilo & Sakakibara, Albino M., 2014, The identity of the treehopper genus Dysyncritus Fowler, with descriptions of new related taxa (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Heteronotinae), Zootaxa 3847 (4), pp. 495-532 : 528-530

Allodrilus similis Evangelista sp. nov.

Figures 1–2, 22, 35, 44, 55, 123–129.

Diagnosis. Brown mottled yellow, with discreet longitudinal yellow lines on pronotum, from above humeral angles to mid-dorsum in lateral view; two yellow spots on median carina at about apical third; vertex strongly concave, apex of frontoclypeus blunt; lateral plate of pygofer medially excavated in males, with dorsal triangular projection, hook-shaped in caudal view; branches of aedeagal apophysis bearing ventral spine-like projection.

Description. Holotype male. Color: pronotum ferruginous brown, mottled yellow, discreet V-shaped yellow stripes from metopidium towards the posterior process, fading past middle; median carina with two yellow spots on posterior process: anterior spot (on apical third) larger, second spot near apex. Vertex yellow, spotted black; ventral side of head dark brown. Forewings amber hyaline, coriaceous areas concolorous with pronotum; veins dull brown, spotted yellow on basal two-thirds, and slightly lighter at apical third. Ventral side of thorax, legs and abdomen yellow.

Head: vertex pentagonal, as wide as long; ocelli closer to eyes than to each other; area below ocelli strongly concave, lower margins of supra antennal ledges sinuous in frontal view, distinctly curved forwards in frontolateral view; frontoclypeus exceeding slightly more than half of its length below lower margins of supra antennal ledges, tapering to rounded apex.

Pronotum: median carina prominent, sharp from basal metopidium, distinctly keeled superiorly; humeral angles triangular, well-marked; in lateral view, dorsum moderately elevated, broadly arched from metopidium to apex of posterior process, highest before mid-dorsum; posterior process laterally compressed from above humeral angles, tapering to triangular apex, narrow and acute, reaching apex of fifth apical cell; postocular lobes scoopshaped.

Forewings: coriaceous areas occupying approximately one-third of clavus, and one-third to one-fourth of R and first basal cell.

Abdomen: laterotergites IV–VII distinctly lamellar, directed downwards and sideways; VIII sternite wider than long, heart-shaped (upper margin with U-shaped excavation). Subgenital plate pear-shaped: emarginate at base, constricted at basal fifth, where lobes separate; lobes of subgenital plate elongate, slender, dorsally folded to accommodate branches of aedeagal apophysis, strongly sinuous in ventral view, narrowed to rounded apex. Lateral plate swollen, with strong medial excavation, delimiting dorsal triangular projection deflected downwards amd strongly curved inwards in caudal view. Aedeagus U-shaped, lacking tubercles or spines; aedeagal apophysis slender and elongate, with minute ventral spine on each branch, approximately at apical third, arms of apophysis directed upwards, not bifurcate, apex hairy, deflected sideways. Styles comma-shaped, curved into truncate apex, with indistinct ventral projection.

Female unknown.

Distribution. PERU (Madre de Dios: Reserva Nacional Tambopata).

Measurements. Holotype male (mm): body length 7.0; pronotal length 5.67; maximum height of pronotum 2.08; length of tegmina 5.83; pronotal width 2.50; head width 2.33; vertex width 1.42; vertex length 1.33.

Examined material. Holotype male from PERU: Madre de Dios: Reserva Nacional Tambopata, ‘ PERU: Madre de Dios: Tambopata \ River, S13 0 8 18.0 W 69 36 29.7 \ IX.2004; J.R. Cryan & J.M. Urban’, ‘MEM 149: DNA Voucher \ Allodrilus similis Evangelista \ Evangelista det.’ ( NCSU).

Notes on type specimen. Holotype minuten mounted, in excellent state of preservation. DNA has been extracted from the whole specimen (except the abdomen).

Remarks. A. similis sp. nov. is mainly distinguished from other Allodrilus species by its pronotal shape and coloration: the dorsum is more elevated and tectiform, ferruginous with discreet V-shaped yellow bands on metopidium. This species is nearly identical to A. nitidipennis , from which it differs in having a prominent triangular dorsal process in the lateral plate of males (strongly curved inwards if seen from caudal view), and branches of aedeagal apophysis bearing a spine-like projection at apical third. Additionally, the vertex in A. similis sp. nov. is markedly concave, and the frontoclypeus is slightly more elongated, with a blunt apex. Nevertheless, the type-series consists of a single specimen, and such characters may be subject to intraspecific variation. Divergences in mithocondrial and nuclear loci were also observed between the aforementioned taxa (Evangelista et al., in preparation). The holotype is the male voucher specimen from which those sequences were obtained.