Titiella Bergroth, 1920

Jones, Joshua R. & Deitz, Lewis L., 2009, Phylogeny and systematics of the leafhopper subfamily Ledrinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) 2186, Zootaxa 2186 (1), pp. 1-120 : 55-56

Genus Titiella Bergroth

(Pl. 3K, 10C, 19I)

Titiella Bergroth, 1920: 29 (replacement name for Titia Stål ).

Type species. Acocephalus punctiger Stål, 1855: 98 , by original designation.

Synonymy. Titia Stål, 1866: 105 (type species Acocephalus punctiger Stål, 1855: 98 ), preoccupied.

Description. Linnavuori (1972): “Rather small, robust, yellowish species. Head a little broader than pronotum. Face in profile flattish both in upper and lower parts but remarkably convex in the middle; anteclypeus broadening apicad; frontoclypeus narrow, nearly parallel-sided in lower portion, triangularly tapering upwardly above the level of antennal pits, convex in the middle, sloping both dorsad and ventrad, postclypeus finely punctate, frons shiny and nearly impunctate; genae strongly notched below eyes, episternum therefore entirely exposed; area between eyes and frontoclypeus somewhat convex with a depression at antennal pits; antennae short. Crown triangularly produced, margins subacute but not foliaceous; disk strongly convex medially, concavely sloping laterad, irregularly punctate and rugose; ocelli a little behind the middle of the crown on either side of coronal suture. Pronotum with lateral margins slightly insinuated, disk remarkably convex basally, sloping apicad, rather coarsely and densely punctate, each puncture bearing a short seta. Scutellum small, punctate. Elytra coriaceous, rather finely and densely punctate, two closed subapical cells, only the 5th apical cell with a few extra cross veins. Structure of legs as in Petalocephala . Posterior margin of 7th sternite [of female] concave.”

Species. [2]: punctigera (Stål) ; humerosa (Naudé) .

Range. South Africa (Cape of Good Hope; Cape Province: Hankey, Keurboom River , Kougaberg, Stellenbosch; East Cape Province: Katberg; West Cape Province: Du Toitskloof Pass, Elim; Transvaal: God’s Window)

Host plants. Chondropetalum microcarpum , Ischyrolepis sp. (Restionaceae) .

Material examined. T. humerosa : 1 female, South Africa, BMNH, JRJ _Led1_201; T. punctiger : 1 female, South Africa, BMNH, JRJ _Led1_197; Titiella spp .: 3 females, South Africa, BMNH, JRJ _Led1_198– 200 , 7 females, South Africa, SANC, JRJ _Led1_196, 202–208 .

Remarks. Linnavuori (1972) placed Titiella in Ledrinae after examining the facial sclerites, and considered it to be part of the “original Cape fauna”. Among Ledrini , Titiella is unique in having a convex face. The facial shape and structure are roughly reminiscent of that of Afrorubria , in which the face is somewhat flat to convex, but not concave as in other ledrines. Specimens of Afrorubria mitellata Naudé and Afrorubria sp. from the SANC (not included in this analysis: Led1_320–344, 469–471) have the face somewhat convex and the margin between the frontoclypeus and the lora and genae weakly defined. These similarities with Titiella , however, appear to be due to convergence. Although Titiella seems similar to Afrorubria in the ways described, it was placed with Hangklipia in the present analyses, which Linnavuori stated was closer to Thlasia and Petalocephala based on the male genitalia. Titiella and Hangklipia are similar in size and overall shape, and they share several other features (see list of apomorphies in Table 3 of Appendix). It is possible, though, that their placement as sister taxa is an artifact of character sampling, namely due to a lack of characters of the male genitalia—males are undescribed for Titiella and were not found among material borrowed and examined for this study. Examination of males of Titiella could shed new light on the relationship between Titiella and Hangklipia .