Paraphysifer Sinaiko & Dietrich, 2020

Sinaiko, Guy & Dietrich, Christopher H., 2020, A new genus and species of Paralimnini leafhoppers from Israel (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae), Zootaxa 4790 (2), pp. 387-392 : 387-388

Paraphysifer Sinaiko & Dietrich gen. n.

Type species: P. wilsoni Sinaiko & Dietrich sp. n., by original designation. Head shape. Head in dorsal view distinctly wider than pronotum. Crown slightly produced and bluntly angulate medially, basal width between eyes ~1.3X greater than median length; crown texture glabrous; transition from crown to face rounded; ocelli well developed, on anterior margin separated from eyes by slightly more than one ocellar diameter.

Face almost as wide as long (1.04 ratio), very slightly convex in profile; frontoclypeus relatively broad, maximum width about half that of face, tapered ventrally to about half maximal width; anteclypeus flat, tapered towards apex to about half basal width, lateral margins straight; lorum relatively narrow, about half as wide as anteclypeus; lorum well separated from genal margin, border between lorum and gena fuscous. Face texture shagreen. Crown texture shagreen anteriorly, longitudinally striate posteriorly.

Wing venation. Forewing with four apical and three subapical cells, inner anteapical cell closed basally and petiolate apically, outer anteapical cell thin, not extended to costal margin, petiolate both basally and apically; appendix narrow at base, broadened to about twice basal width, then tapered to initial width toward apex.

Leg chaetotaxy. Profemur row AV with ~7 short, robust setae in proximal half and thin, short AV1 apicad (similar in shape and length to IC setae); AM1 enlarged, located at midheight of femur, well separated from apex; IC row with ~7 thin, delicate setae about twice length of basal AV seta; protibial AD with single distal seta (missing in holotype, only socket present), PD with 4 evenly spaced macrosetae; AV with 14 macrosetae, PV with 7 macrosetae (arranged as 1, 4, and 2 along the tibia basad) .

Metafemur macrosetal formula 2+2+1, Metatibial AV with 11 macrosetae followed by 23 shorter, more delicate seta basad; PV and AD with 14 and 12 macrosetae that decrease in size basad, respectively; PD with 6 macrosetae and 1-4 shorter setae between each pair of macrosetae; tarsomeres 1 and 3 with two plantar rows of (4 and 3, respectively) short, robust setae; distal pecten of first tarsomere with 3 platellae amidst 4 macrosetae (2 on each side).

Male genitalia. Pygofer relatively short and tall, weakly incised dorsally with short median posterodorsal lobe; lateral lobe with numerous macrosetae in posterodorsal half, apex broadly rounded, without teeth or processes. Segment X short and broad, well sclerotized laterally, membranous dorsally, without teeth or processes. Valve relatively long, broadly rounded posteromedially. Subgenital plates short, articulated to valve, with single row of macrosetae laterally. Style nearly as long as connective, apophysis elongate, preapical lobe angulate, apex evenly curved laterad with blunt tip, without obvious teeth or microsculpture. Connective elongate, racquet-shaped with posterior stem broadened posteriorly to V-shaped apex and shorter than anterior arms. Paraphysis present, short, articulated between apex of connective and base of aedeagal preatrium, with pair of apodemes extended dorsolaterad and terminating with weakly sclerotized lobe articulated to base of segment X, apex extended posterad below aedeagus and terminating in pair of short, depressed digitiform processes. Aedeagus bulbous, sack-like, curved strongly anterodorsad, very broad in lateral view, in posterior view with broad longitudinal cleft extended over most of shaft housing gonopore, apex narrow and strongly compressed. Sclerotized dorsal connective absent.

Etymology. This genus name, a masculine noun, is based on the unusual diagnostic feature, the paraphysis (see Remarks).

Remarks. In the most comprehensive available key to Paralimnini genera ( Emeljanov, 1999) Paraphysifer keys out either to Psammotettix Haupt, 1929 or to Cleptochiton Emeljanov, 1959 , but it may be separated from these genera by the presence of the paraphysis. The subgenital plates of the new genus are very similar to those of Psammotettix in being very narrow with most of their length confined to the lateral margin of the valve and only a short distal lobe extended posterad of the valve. However, neither Psammotettix nor most other described genera of Paralimnini have a true paraphysis in the male genitalia. Stiller (2010) labeled some structures in the male genitalia of some species of Vilargus Theron as paraphyses but these are not true paraphyses (sensu Dai & Dietrich, 2011) because they are fused either to the connective or to the base of the aedeagus rather than being movably articulated between the connective and aedeagus. The genitalia of Vilargus also differ from those of the new genus in being asymmetrical and in having the connective process unbranched. Among previously described genera of Paralimnini , only the widespread Old World genus Nicolaus Lindberg includes some species, e.g., N. dentatus (Theron) , that appear to have true paraphyses. These consist of elongate, paired processes, separated at the base and movably articulated to the aedeagal preatrium rather than a single structure with posterior lobes as in Paraphysifer . Some species of Nicolaus also have subgenital plates resembling those of the new genus, but species of Nicolaus differ in the more elongated form of the body, lack of large brown spots on the forewing, and presence of a dorsal process or apical tooth, or both, on the male pygofer lobe.