Hatigoria Distant, 1908, 1914

Tang, Jiu & Zhang, Yalin, 2021, Review of the leafhopper genus Hatigoria Distant with one new species (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Hylicinae), Zootaxa 5005 (3), pp. 358-366 : 359

Genus Hatigoria Distant, 1908 new record for Laos

Hatigoria Distant, 1908: 258 .

Hatigoria Distant, Jacobi, 1914: 381 ; Schumacher, 1915: 96; Evans, 1946: 47; Esaki and Ito, 1954: 26; Metcalf, 1962: 10. Type species: Hatigoria praeiens Distant, 1908 , by original designation.

Description. A revised description is given based largely on Distant (1908) but incorporating the variation found in the additional specimens and new species described here. Medium to large leafhoppers (body length ♂ 10.0– 16.6 mm, ♀ 12.2–16.0 mm), body usually yellow brown to dark brown, densely or loosely covered with blackish and whitish scale-shaped setae, thorax and forewings usually granulose or transversely rugulose. Female usually larger than male, with paler coloration and forewings exposing broader area of abdominal sides. Head strongly produced in front of eyes, subtriangular in dorsal view, slightly broader than anterior margin of pronotum, apical half curved dorsad with distinct dorsal and ventral median carinae and paired lateral carinae, without distinct tubercles, ocelli placed near anterior margin of eyes, pair of submedial semiovoid spots without setae between eyes on posterior margin, eyes reniform. Face usually longer than wide, anteriorly subtriangular, lateral frontal suture extending onto crown in front of ocelli, frontoclypeus longer than anteclypeus, clypeal sulcus arcuate, frontoclypeus and anteclypeus elevated centrad and sloping laterally, lorum narrow and short, well-separated from gena and dorsal ends even with clypeal sulcus, gena exposing part of proepisternum, lateral margins of gena slightly ridged, rostrum short, not reaching middle coxae. Pronotum elevated posterad and sloping laterally, lateral margins obliquely sinuate, posterior margin carinate and concave before base of mesonotum and W-shaped. Exposed part of mesonotum and scutellum triangular, well separated from apex of clavus, lateral margins carinate, central region sunken, anterolateral regions swollen, scutellum swollen and tapering to tip, apex usually light-colored. Forewing with claval suture obviously folded downward, valvate distad of clavus, venation not very prominent, usually obscured by opaque sclerotization and dense pile, vein RA1 generally absent, veins Pcu and A1 separated from each other, three anteapical cells and four apical cells present, 1st apical cell longest, appendix well-developed and with numerous longitudinal folds, extending around wing apex from claval suture to 4th apical cell. Abdomen slightly broader than tegmina at base and gradually narrowed posteriorly at rest. Legs generally unicolorous, with many scattered small setae on surface. Anterior femur with AD1 and PD1 obvious, rows AD and PD not distinctly arranged in rows, row IC at subapex with about 5 long setae, row AV with several stouter setae along entire margin; tibia slightly compressed but not distinctly dilated, row PD with numerous small setae, rows AV, PV entirely with stouter and longer setae, mixed with small setae, not clearly arranged in rows, AD reduced to flattened surface. Hind femur macrosetal formula 2+1+0/1; tibiae slightly curved and strongly spinose, with ca. 10, 10–12 and 14–19 setae in rows AD, PD, AV respectively, PV with numerous fine setae in basal three fourths and 5 macrosetae near apex; tarsomere I with none or one row of plantar setae, pecten with 7–12 platellae.

Male genitalia. Pygofer with base short, separated from lobe by narrow vertical membranous cleft, lobe granulose and covered with many short setae, deeply bifid in dorsal view, approximately rectanglular in lateral view; subgenital plate with base fused, slightly shorter than pygofer, ventral surface with scattered setae; valve reduced, fused with pygofer and base of subgenital plate; ventral appendages long and slender, partly separated from base of pygofer by membrane and extending to inner surface of lobe; connective longer than wide; style with apodeme long, apophysis relatively short with several slender setae distally; aedeagus tubular and curved dorsad. Segment X with pair of long, slender apodemes.

Female. See the species H. praeiens Distant, 1908 .

Distribution. China, Japan, Laos, Myanmar.

Remarks. In the subfamily Hylicinae , there are many other genera besides Hatigoria that also have an elongate head process, but they are well distinguished from Hatigoria . The head process of the genus Nacolus is clearly long and straight, broad in lateral view and with many scattered small tubercles. In Wolfella , the cephalic process also has distinct dorsal and ventral median carinae and paired lateral carinae, but the dorsal ridge is usually toothed and in most species have the process strongly curved posterodorsad. In Sudra the head process is rounded and unridged, usually shorter and stouter than in the other genera. In Traiguma , the head process is narrow and short, or flattened and wide with tubercles on the dorsal surface. We note that the species from Vietnam recently described by Dietrich et al. (2020) Traiguma hamocauda , which has been provisionally placed in genus Traiguma based on its anteriorly broadened head process, differs from other species of Traiguma in having well-developed ventral pygofer appendages. The latter character is shared with Hatigoria . However, this species also clearly does not belong to Hatigoria based on the following features. First, the head process of Hatigoria is distinctly longitudinally compressed. Secondly, the shape of the aedeagal shaft of T. hamocauda is non-tubular but is tubular in all species of genus Hatigoria . Also, the pygofer of species T. hamocauda is short and wide in lateral view, whereas is narrow and long in genus Hatigoria .