Brincadorus laticeps Oman, 1938

Camisão, Beatriz M., Zahniser, James N. & Takiya, Daniela M., 2024, On the Neotropical Brincadorus: redescription, new species, taxonomic key and description of a related new genus (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae), Zootaxa 5497 (4), pp. 537-558 : 540-542

Brincadorus laticeps Oman

( Fig. 1 )

Type-locality: Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso State, Brasil.

Lengh: 5.75–7 mm.

Coloration: Body tan dorsally, and yellow ventrally ( Figs. 1A–C ). Crown, pronotum, and mesonotum with muscle impressions slightly darker. Forewing translucent, dark yellow, without maculae or spots ( Fig. 1A ), costal margin dark brown.

External morphology: Coronal suture attaining midlength of crown; anterior margin with numerous transverse carinae ( Fig. 1B ). Clypellar suture slightly arcuate. Clypellus slightly constricted at base and narrowing towards apex ( Fig. 1B ). Forewing without extra crossveins on costal margin ( Fig. 1A ). Profemur intercalary row with 12 to 14 setae; row AV with 4 to 7 short, stout macrosetae. Protibia rows AD+PD with 1+4 macrosetae. Other characters as in the generic description.

Male genitalia: Pygofer with dorsal process short, bifurcate, curved posteroventrally ( Fig. 1D ). Subgenital plate apex acuminate, extending beyond apex of pygofer in lateral view ( Fig. 1C–E ). Connective arms closely appressed in dorsal view ( Fig. 1F ). Style apophysis apex rounded in lateral view, acuminate in ventral view, smooth, somewhat straight, extending beyond midlength of subgenital plates in dorsal view, extending beyond connective stem in ventral view ( Figs. 1F–G ). Aedeagus without processes; shaft long, slender, curved dorsally in lateral view; apex acuminate in lateral and dorsal view; gonopore preapical, opening ventrally ( Fig. 1F–H ).

Female terminalia: Female unknown.

Notes: Brincadorus laticeps Oman, 1938 can be distinguished from the other species of the genus by the aedeagus long, slender, without basidorsal or preapical processes.

The male holotype of B. laticeps was not previously dissected. To clarify the identity of B. laticeps , we dissected the specimen. It agrees with all diagnostic genitalia characters with the paratype from Chapada, which is illustrated here. Oman (1938) listed two paratypes, one from the type-locality of Chapada, Brazil, which was studied and illustrated in the present work, and another from Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. Linnavuori (1959) redescribed the species and provided illustrations of the male genitalia based on a paratype. However, Linnavuori did not state which paratype he examined. After close examination of his drawings and redescription and comparison to the holotype and Chapada paratype, it was clear that the specimen he studied is not B. laticeps and is instead the newly described species B. cruceno . We concluded that Linnavuori (1959) illustrated the misidentified Bolivian paratype, and we list the Rurrenabaque locality for B. cruceno . The Bolivian paratype was stated to be deposited at USNM ( Oman, 1938), but after a thorough search of the collection, it was not found.

The labels of the holotype and paratype state only the word “Chapada” for the collecting locality. In Brazil, there are many places called Chapada, since it is the Portuguese word for a plateau, a geological formation that occurs in several States throughout the country. Zanol & Menezes (1982) interpreted it as being the Parque Nacional Chapada dos Guimarães, in Mato Grosso State, a very important National Park in central Brazil, characterized by a vast Cerrado vegetation. The specimen labels say “Collection CF Baker”, which again leaves an ambiguity since a great part of the Charles F. Baker collection was actually collected by Herbert H. Smith. We do know that H. H. Smith collected extensively at Chapada dos Guimarães, and that he was a close associate of Baker, who also collected in Brazil. There is an extensive number of specimens listed by Linnavuori (1959), for example, from “Chapada” that were collected by H. H. Smith. In one of his papers, Baker (1898) lists specimens of Neocoelidia rubrolineata Baker, 1898 collected by H. H. Smith at Chapada and Corumbá, which is a city located at the time at Mato Grosso State (now it is part of Mato Grosso do Sul State, which was created after 1977). Many of Smith’s specimens at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburgh, PA), where he was employed for some time, are labeled similarly to the “C.F. Baker Collection” specimens at USNM examined here, with the locality indicated only by “Chapada” and with an abbreviated month for the date of collection. After consulting other entomologists on the matter and reading the obituaries of Smith ( Holland, 1919; Clapp, 1920) and Baker ( Essig, 1927), we concluded that Zanol & Menezes (1982) identification of the locality as Chapada dos Guimarães is probably correct, and therefore maintain the type-locality of B. laticeps as Chapada dos Guimarães in Mato Grosso State.

Zanol & Menezes (1982) recorded B. laticeps from São Paulo State in Brazil, based on specimens collected and examined by them. However, since the only illustration of the genitalia available at that time was the misidentified specimen from Linnavuori’s work, it is possible that these authors misidentified their studied specimens, that may actually belong to B. cruceno . Until those specimens can be located or further collecting trips can be made, the species recorded by Zanol & Menezes from São Paulo locality should be considered uncertain. Consequently, B. laticeps is currently known only from its type-locality of Chapada, Brazil.

Material examined: holotype ♂, Chapada / Jan. / Collection CF Baker / Type No. 51663 U.S. N.M. / Brincadorus laticeps Oman / UNSMENT01513019 ( USNM) . Paratype ♂, same data except USNMENT01513139 ( USNM) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Brincadorus laticeps Oman, 1938. A–C, I, male holotype, USNMENT01513019. D–G, male paratype, USNMENT01513139. A, Dorsal habitus; B, Head, frontal view; C, Abdomen, ventral view; D, Pygofer, valve and subgenital plates, lateral view; E, Pygofer, valve and subgenital plates, dorsal view; F, Connective, styles and aedeagus, ventral view; G, Connective, styles and aedeagus, lateral view; H, Aedeagus apex, lateral view; I, Holotype labels.