Berberigetta

Costa, Gonçalo João, Nunes, Vera L., Marabuto, Eduardo, Mendes, Raquel, Laurentino, Telma G., Quartau, José Alberto, Paulo, Octávio S. & Simões, Paula Cristina, 2017, Morphology, songs and genetics identify two new cicada species from Morocco: Tettigettalna afroamissa sp. nov. and Berberigetta dimelodica gen. nov. & sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Cicadettini), Zootaxa 4237 (3), pp. 517-544 : 530

Berberigetta nov. gen. Costa, Nunes, Marabuto, Mendes & Simões

Diagnosis This genus can be readily distinguished from other morphologically similar genera by the analysis of the male genitalia. The type species has a very large tube-like aedeagus with two pseudoparamers fused until three quarters of total thecal length, ending in a sharp-tip and about of the same length as the endotheca (see Figure 6 F). Therefore, it can be distinguished from the similar genus Tettigettacula (type species: T. baenai (Boulard, 2000)) for the latter has two unfused thick pseudoparamers arising dorsally from base of the theca, and separate from the endotheca ( Puissant & Sueur 2010). Berberigetta differs from Cicadetta Kolenati, 1857 (type species: Cicadetta montana (Scopoli, 1772)) in aedeagus morphology: C. montana shows a similarly long aedeagus, yet the pseudoparamers are exceedingly long and partly unfused, surpassing the distal end of theca by about half its length ( Moulds 2012).

Type species Berberigetta dimelodica designed by monotypy.

Etymology Name formed by combining the suffix Berber (pertaining to the Maghrebian Roman region, Barbaria, and the prevailing ethnic group in northern Maghreb) and the prefix –getta, an arbitrary combination of letters associated with small cicada species, as in Tettigetta .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Body and male genitalia morphology of Berberigetta dimelodica. A—Designated male holotype of B. dimelodica. Scale bar equals 10 mm; B—Designated female paratype of B. dimelodica. Scale bar equals 10 mm; C, D—Male paratypes’ pygophore overview in posterior and lateral views, respectively. Scale bars equal 500 µm. E, F—Aedeagus in upper and lateral views, respectively. Scale bars equal 200 µm. Pygophore and aedeagus photos were taken of material preserved in Kaiser gelatin. Note that the tip of the left pseudoparamer is broken.