Tenompoella vietnamensis, Dietrich & Nguyen & Pham, 2020

Dietrich, Christopher H., Nguyen, Huong T. T. & Pham, Hong Thai, 2020, New genera, new species and new records of leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from Vietnam, Zootaxa 4877 (2), pp. 241-273 : 248

Tenompoella vietnamensis n. sp.

( Figures 2 H–U, 11J)

Description. Length of male 8.2 mm. Overall color stramineous tinged with green, with bright orange markings on head and thorax. Crown orange except narrow anteromedial part and pair of posterolateral spots, eyes and antennal ledges orange, face unmarked. Pronotum with posterior margin and pair of incomplete submedial longitudinal stripes orange. Mesonotum and scutellum orange laterally, basal triangles fuscous. Forewing with costal and commissural margins orange, veins mostly dark brown, apex with broad fuscous marginal band and row of fuscous preapical spots, one in each apical cell, some other cells also with fuscous medial spots. Front and middle tibiae orange, hind tibia orange at base, middle femur with fuscous spot at apex of anterior surface.

Front femur row IC with 12 fine setae, AV with two moderately long, stout setae; tibia rows AD and PD with 1 and 4 macrosetae respectively, AV with numerous macrosetae, PV with 3 macrosetae. Middle femur AV with 4 stout setae. Hind tibial rows PD, AD and AV with 21, 11 and 20 macrosetae, respectively; tarsomere I pecten with 4 platellae.

Male pygofer quadrate in lateral view, taller than long, macrosetae numerous, appendages absent. Segment X well sclerotized dorsally but relatively short. Valve sharply triangular, wider than long. Subgenital plate triangular, longer than wide, with lateral margin concave distally, with lateral row of macrosetae along middle third, apex weakly pigmented and digitiform, fine setae short and sparse. Style preapical lobe large, acutely angled, apophysis evenly curved laterad, evenly tapered to pointed apex, without denticuli. Connective very short, broad, stem absent, arms widely divergent. Aedeagus widely separated from connective, attached by thin membrane, dorsal apodeme large, taller and broader than shaft, with paired lateral and dorsal arms in posterior view. Shaft simple, tubular, slen- der, tapered and curved slightly dorsad, with pair of slender processes arising ventrally near base and extended along shaft, surpassing shaft apex; gonopore apical.

Female sternite VII with posterior margin weakly trilobed, median lobe longer and narrower than lateral lobes, with pair of brown maculae submedially. First valvula moderately slender, dorsal sculpture strigate, continuous with ventral sculpture near apex. Second valvulae moderately slender and parallel-sided through most of length, with prominent dorsal tooth before midlength and series of close-set somewhat rounded triangular teeth in distal third.

Etymology. The species name refers to the country of origin.

Material examined. Holotype male, VIETNAM: Ninh Binh, Cuc Phuong NP center 20.3578ºN 105.5966ºE, 560m, 5 July 2019, C.H.Dietrich, sweeping in forest, VN19-3-1 ( VNMN). Paratypes: 1 female, same data as holotype; 1 male, VIETNAM: Ninh Binh, Cuc Phuong NP, park rd. km 29 20.3363ºN 105.6094ºE, 350m, 8 July 2019 C.H.Dietrich, Hg. vapor light, VN19-4-1 ( INHS) .

Notes. The new species described here agrees closely with the description and illustrations of the genus and its type species provided by Zhang & Webb (1996). The structure of the male genital capsule and genitalia of the new species are very similar to those of the type species except for two important differences: the connective of the new species is short, broad, and lacks a pair of posterior processes and the aedeagus has a pair of elongate processes fused to the base of the shaft. In contrast, Tenompoella difficilis (Walker) has paired processes on the apex of an elongate connective but no processes on the aedeagal shaft. This difference might be used to justify placing the new species in a separate genus. However, we note that some other genera of Cicadellidae (e.g., the Paleotropical paralimnine genus Nicolaus Lindberg and the Neotropical cicadelline genus Diestostemma Amyot & Serville ) include different species that have the basal processes of the aedeagus either fused or separated from the shaft. We consider Tenompoella to represent an additional case in which this normally conservative character shows plasticity among otherwise morphologically similar species. In both species the aedeagus is dissociated from the connective, the two structures being attached to each other by a membrane, as occurs in some other species of Paraboloponina (e.g., Parabolopona Matsumura , Omanellinus Zhang , Forficus Qu ) as well as in some genera of Scaphoideini (e.g., Scaphoideus Uhler ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Deltocephalinae, Drabescini. A–G, Drabescoides bispinosa sp. n., holotype male. A–B, lateral and dorsal habitus; C, genital capsule, lateral view; D, left pygofer lobe and anal tube, ventrolateral view; E, valve and subgenital plates, ventral view; F–G, genitalia, ventral and lateral views. H–U, Tenompoella vietnamensis sp. n., holotype male: H–I, lateral and dorsal habitus; J–K, genital capsule, lateral and ventral views; L, pygofer and anal tube, lateral view; M, valve and subgenital plates, ventral view; N–O, genitalia, ventral and lateral views; P, aedeagus, posterior view. Q–U, T. vietnamensis female: Q, sternite VII; R, first valvula, S, detail of same; T, second valvula, U, detail of same.