Membracis foliatafasciata ( DeGeer, 1773 )

Sakakibara, Albino M. & Evangelista, Olívia, 2010, Membracis foliata (Linnaeus) (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Membracinae) and allied species: an effort towards their correct determination, Journal of Natural History 44 (35 - 36), pp. 2131-2148 : 2136-2139

Membracis foliatafasciata ( DeGeer, 1773) sp. reval.

(Figures 6–13)

Cicada foliata-fasciata [sic] DeGeer, 1773, p 205, pl 32, Figure 9 (type-locality: Surinam); Funkhouser, 1927, p 46 (cat.) (= C. foliata L.); Metcalf and Wade, 1965, p 1233 (cat.) (= C. foliata L.); McKamey, 1998, p 210 (cat.). (= C. foliata L.).

Membracis lunata Fabricius, 1787, p 262 (type-locality: Cayenne); Fabricius, 1794, p 9; Fairmaire, 1846, p 244; Buckton, 1903, p 34, pl II, Figure 3; Funkhouser, 1927, p 49 (cat.); Metcalf and Wade, 1965, p 1233 (cat.) (= M. foliata ); Sakakibara, 1971, p 139, Figure 4 (reval.); McKamey, 1998, p 211 (cat.). Syn. nov.

[Cigale noir tachetée de blanc] Stoll, 1788, p 33, pl V, Figure 24 .

Membracis c-album Fairmaire, 1846, p 244 (type-locality: “Amerique Meridionale”); Funkhouser, 1927, p 46 (cat.) (= C. foliata L.), syn. nov.

Membracis flexa Walker, 1858, p 58 (type-locality: Venezuela); Funkhouser, 1927, p 46 (cat.) (= C. foliata L.); Metcalf and Wade, 1965, p 1233 (cat.) (= C. foliata L.); McKamey, 1998, p 210 (cat.). (= C. foliata L.), syn. nov. Membracis foliata var. c-album; Fowler, 1894, p 5, Table I, Figure1; Metcalf and Wade, 1965, p 1239 (cat.).

Membracis foliata c-album; McKamey, 1998, p 210 (cat.).

Membracis foliata ; Buckton, 1901, p 33, pl II, Figure 1; Sakakibara, 1971, p 138, Figure 2.

Membracis suctifructus Boulard and Couturier, 1991, p 70 ( Brazil, Amazonas); McKamey, 1998, p 212 (cat.), syn. nov.

This is the second form of M. foliata referred by Linnaeus – that having two white fasciae: an anterior vertical line and a posterior arcuate band. DeGeer (1773) considered it as a distinct species – M. foliatafasciata – providing description and illustration, which we considered clear enough to infer safely the identity of this species. The work of DeGeer, however, was overlooked by most authors, who still tried to determine M. foliata based only on Linnaeus’ description.

Fabricius (1787) considered this form as a variation of M. lunata , in which the two posterior white bands would be connected, forming a C-shaped Figure. As stated previously (see the Membracis foliata section), Fabricius had previously attributed all these features to Membracis foliata and then corrected himself later on, but all these remarks have somehow prevented accurate determination of these three species. In the description of M. lunata, Fabricius (1775) stated that there were three yellow bands on the pronotum and that sometimes the two posterior fasciae could be united. Therefore, the identity of M. lunata has been usually linked to those Membracis that had three distinct vertical yellow bands on the pronotum. However, the examination of the type-series in Fabricius’ collection (ZMUC) proved that these specimens do not actually have three distinct yellow bands as he described. There are three syntypes in the collection ( Zimsen 1964), all of them nearly identical, two of which have been photographed (Figures 6–7). Two syntypes have two conspicuous yellow bands (as in Figure 6, female syntype, ZMUC); an arcuate vertical anterior fascia followed by a C-shaped band. The third syntype (Figure 7, female syntype, ZMUC), on the other hand, seems to be a teneral; the pronotum is not as black as in the others and the posterior C-shaped band is less evident, giving the impression that it is divided into two separate bands. We believe that Fabricius erroneously interpreted it as having three bands instead of two and based the description mainly on this specimen. The type-series of M. lunata is nevertheless conspecific, thus the species is herein considered as junior synonym of M. foliatafasciata . The indicated type-locality of M. lunata is “Cayenne” [French Guyana], in the Amazon Rainforest, which corroborates our indication. Examined specimens of M. foliatafasciata also exhibit a remarkable variation of size and conformation of the C-shaped white band, which is illustrated in Figures 10–13.

Other synonyms include: Membracis c-album Fairmaire syn. nov., 1846, Membracis flexa Walker, 1858 syn. nov. ( Figure 8, lectotype female, BMNH) and Membracis suctifructus Boulard and Couturier, 1991 syn. nov. ( Figure 9, holotype male, INPA).

Material examined

Membracis lunata Fabricius (3 syntypes ♀, ZMUC); Membracis flexa Walker (lectotype ♀, BMNH) ; Membracis suctifructus Boulard and Couturier (holotype ♀, INPA) . Additional non-type material from BRAZIL: Rondônia (Vilhena: 9♀) , Roraima (Ilha de Maracá: 13), Amazonas (Manaus: 1♀; Tefé: 1♀; Itacoatiara: 1♀; Canutama: 3♀♀ 233), Pará (Jacareacanga: 1♀; Óbidos: 1♀), Acre ( Rio Branco : 7♀♀ 2 33) and Mato Grosso (Cárceres: 2♀♀; Sinop: 333; Vila Vera: 1♀) ( DZUP) .

Figures

Figures 24–26. Membracis species, frontal view. (24) M. latifasciata Sakakibara and Evangelista sp. nov. (holotype 3, ZMUC); (25) M. obliquifasciata Evangelista & Sakakibara sp. nov. (holotype ♀, MNHN); (26) M. luizae Evangelista and Sakakibara sp. nov. (holotype ♀, DZUP). Note: Scale bar, 1 mm.