Nirvana spinosa, Naveed & Zhang, 2018

Naveed, Hassan & Zhang, Yalin, 2018, Leafhopper genus Nirvana Kirkaldy (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Evacanthinae) newly recorded from Pakistan with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4459 (1), pp. 188-192 : 190

Nirvana spinosa sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–10 )

Measurements. Length. Male. 5.4–5.9mm; Female. 6.7mm.

Yellowish. Vertex, pronotum, scutellum and compound eyes silvery yellowish. Forewings yellow with irregular brownish spots in median area. Vertex and thorax with median longitudinal black stripe extending to second apical cell of forewings along with anterior margin of clavus, with even lateral margins; second apical cell with black spot, area around each spot pale.

Ocelli on vertex, just above and next to antennal bases. Vertex nearly equal or slightly narrower than pronotum, slightly longer than breadth between eyes. Pronotum about 1.7x as wide as long, shorter than scutellum.

Male genitalia. Pygofer lobe bluntly conical at posterior margin, with macrosetae confined to posterior 0.33 area, with short spin-like process at ventral margin, about 2x longer than high, anal tube base with long basal process almost reaching ventral margin of pygofer. Subgenital plates long, narrowed apically, slightly broad at base, with irregular microsetae, about 5x longer than broad (basal width). Style with preapical lobe broadly rounded, apophysis long, slender, around ½ of total length, spine-like, narrowing towards apex. Connective “Y”- shaped, with stem longer than arms. Aedeagus with shaft curved laterally, apically directed cephalad, broad at apex with apical sclerotization of shaft, with membranous area and pair of subequal spines, basal processes of dorsal apodeme hook-like.

Female. Hind margin of seventh sternite medially notched in new species ( Fig. 6 ). First valvulae ( Figs. 7, 8 ) concave dorsally and acute apically in lateral view, dorsal sculptured area extending from basal 2/3 to apex and ventral scale-like sculptured area restricted to apical portion. Second valvulae, in lateral view, tapering apically with serrations, dorsal margin with 12-14 teeth in apical half and a small tooth at base ( Figs. 9, 10 ).

Type Material. Holotype: ♂, Pakistan, Punjab, Murree Hills , 2291m, 26 August 2017, Coll. Hassan Naveed . Paratypes: 2♂, 2♀, same data as holotype .

Remarks. This new species is similar in external appearance to Nirvana striata Viraktamath & Wesley but can be differentiated by the following characters: style with apophysis long, spine-like, aedeagus with spine-like apical sclerotization of the shaft, basal processes of dorsal apodeme foot-like, and subgenital plates about 5x longer than broad. Also, the female seventh sternite has the hind margin medially notched in the new species but truncate in N. striata . One other species of Nirvana , N. peculiaris Viraktamath and Wesley from Northeast India, has paired short processes at the base of the anal tube but the processes of N. spinosa are much longer and the male genitalia are different in several other respects.

Etymology. The specific epithet “ spinosa ” refers to the spine-like apical sclerotization of the aedeagal shaft.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Nirvana spinosa sp. nov. 1. habitus, dorsal view; 2. pygofer lobe, lateral view; 3. connective, style and subgenital plates, dorsal view; 4. aedeagus, lateral view; 5. aedeagus, caudal view; 6. female seventh sternite, ventral view.

FIGURES 7–10. Nirvana spinosa sp. nov. 7, 8. Valvula I, lateral view; 9, 10. Valvula II, lateral view.