Aequcephalus DeLong & Thambimuttu

Zahniser, James N., 2021, Revision of the New World leafhopper tribe Faltalini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) and the evolution of brachyptery, Zootaxa 4954 (1), pp. 1-160 : 25-28

Aequcephalus DeLong & Thambimuttu

Type species: Aequcephalus gramineus DeLong & Thambimuttu, 1973 ; designated.

Aequcephalus DeLong & Thambimuttu, 1973: 172 [original description, illustration, morphology, new species]; Cwikla & Blocker, 1981: 170, 172 [morphology]; Linnavuori & DeLong, 1977: 199, 200 265, 266 [key, distribution, morphology, male described, illustrated]; Oman et al., 1990: 289 [catalogue]; Paradell & Remes Lenicov, 2005: 136 [morphology]; Zanol, 2008: 3 [catalogue]; Remes Lenicov & Paradell, 2009: 264 [examined]; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2010: 508 [classification]; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2013: 85 [classification]; Zahniser, 2007 [online catalogue]; Freytag & Gaiani, 2017 [online catalogue]

Aequicephalus Zahniser & Webb 2004: [misspelling, key]

Aequecephalus Zahniser & Dietrich 2013: 85 [misspelling, classification]

Diagnosis. Aequcephalus can be distinguished from other genera by the brachypterous males and females, crown

distinctly longer than interocular width, crown texture mostly shagreen in discal region and reticulate anteriorly, anterior margin of head subfoliaceous, crown sharply angled to face, ocelli present and distant from eyes, male pygofer without distinct posterodorsal tooth, forewing with reticulate venation, male and female pygofers without or with few macrosetae, texture of frontoclypeus predominantly shagreen, and metatarsomere I plantar surface outer row (=anterior, with legs extended) with 2–3 platellae and 1–2 tapered setae.

Body. Male, 4.1 mm. Female, 5.0– 5.7 mm. Body length 3.5x (male)–4.0x (female) width of pronotum. Anterior margin of head shagreen next to eyes, anteriorly subfoliaceous and texture rugose or smooth. Crown length 1.2x (males) and 1.2x–1.3x (females) interocular width; texture shagreen laterally and basally, rugose anteriorly and medially; depressed near anterior margin. Ocelli on anterior margin, slightly dorsad; about 1/2 distance from eye to apex of crown. Frontoclypeus texture mostly shagreen, sometimes partially smooth anteriorly; mostly flat, or slightly concave anterad. Antennal sockets situated near middle of eyes. Pronotum carinate laterally; straplike; anteriorly widely convex and posteriorly concave; texture shagreen to rugose anteriorly, posteriorly with transverse furrows. Scutellum texture shagreen. Protrochanter with several short stout setae. Profemur row AV with 8–9 short, stout setae; intercalary row with 5–7 long, thin setae; AM1 present; dorsally with pair of apical setae. Protibia dorsal setae 3+4. Mesotrochanter with stout PV seta. Mesofemur row AV with short, stout setae. Mesotibia dorsal setae 4+4. Metafemur apical setae 2+2+1. Metatibia only slightly bent toward apex in dorsal view. Metatarsomere I about as long as II and III combined; widening toward apex; apical row with 5 platellae flanked on either side by tapered seta; plantar surface outer row (=anterior, with legs extended) with 2–3 platellae and 1–2 tapered setae and inner row with 3–4 tapered setae. Brachypterous. Forewing with reticulate venation. Hindwing forming subtriangular lobelike extension from hindwing base; anterior margin of hindwing differentiated to wing base; posterior margin of hindwing not differentiated much beyond posterior margin of metanotum.

Color. General color yellowish to tawny. Crown with two pairs of longitudinal ivory stripes bordered by thin, irregular dark brown border; apex with pair of dark brown spots; a dark median straight line after spots. Face anteriorly with dark brown arcuate lines. Laterally with dark brown line running from below eye to metapleuron, lying below folded legs. Pronotum with color pattern continuing from crown; with an extra pair of longitudinal ivory stripes laterally. Forewing reticulated veins ivory; pits between veins mostly tawny, some with dark brown especially medially; posterior margin with distinct dark brown spot at ~1/3 distance from midline to lateral margin. Abdomen with three pairs of ivory stripes, bordered by dark brown, and with dark line as in pronotum. Pygofer of male and female mostly tawny with some areas brown to dark brown. Females lighter than males, with color of longitudinal stripes less contrasting with background to almost concolorous; dark borders of stripes sometimes vanished; anterior pair of markings of crown, median dark line of dorsum, apical dark spots of tegmina, and arcuate lines of face distinct.

Male. Pygofer incised dorsally to midlength; in lateral view, relatively short, straight along dorsal margin, caudodorsal margin sloping to rounded apex; with short tooth ventroapically; ventral margin straight; with several short, stout setae and ~15–20 short fine setae arranged ventrally and apically. Subgenital plates longer than wide; roundedly triangular in shape; apex rounded; with numerous short stout setae irregularly arranged laterally and toward apex. Valve triangular; length about 0.5x width. Connective Y-shaped; stem about as long as arms; arms medially with lateral lobes. Style somewhat broad at base. Aedeagus with base of aedeagus tall, narrow; shaft narrow, arising ventrally from base of aedeagus, evenly curved dorsally; apical half of shaft laterally with 2–6 teeth on each side, not arranged symmetrically; gonopore on posterior margin near base or midlength of shaft; articulated with connective. Phragma sclerotized inside of pygofer apex as pair of dorsoventrally elongated sinuate plates. Segment X mostly membranous.

Female. Pygofer with ~8 short macrosetae ventrally and near apex. Ovipositor extending somewhat beyond pygofer apex. Sternite VII tapering somewhat from base toward apex, forming two lateral subtriangular lobes separated by broad subrectangular incision. First valvula relatively straight in lateral view; dorsal sculpturing pattern granulose, submarginal with distinct unsculptured band on dorsal margin; VSA present, distinctly delimited, sculpturing granulose. Second valvula somewhat broad, without dorsal teeth. Gonoplac with numerous short stout ventroapically.

Distribution. Chile

Remarks. Aequcephalus was resolved in the clade of Faltala group genera ( Fig. 91 ) and is possibly most closely related to Virganana .

Included species:

gramineus DeLong & Thambimuttu, 1973 ( Chile)

laplata n. sp. Zahniser & Campodonico ( Chile)

Key to species of Aequcephalus *

* characters of male of A. gramineus follow Linnavuori & DeLong (1977); see Discussion under that species regarding identity of the male.

1. Female length 5.1 mm; in lateral view, head slightly depressed anteriorly and face slightly concave subapically (11B); sternite VII incised medially to midlength, with lateral lobes appearing longer, more lanceolate; subgenital plate mesal margin slightly concave; style apophysis not widened medially; aedeagus relatively short, each side with 2 teeth, gonopore near base of shaft......................................................................................... A. gramineus

1’. Female length 4.9–5.7 mm; in lateral view, head not depressed, face evenly sloping to anterior margin (12B1,B2); sternite VII with medial incision 0.3–0.4x total length, with lateral lobes appearing shorter, more blunt (12J1–J3); subgenital plate mesal margin convex (12F); style apophysis widened medially (12G,Q); aedeagus long, each side with 5–6 teeth, gonopore near midlength of shaft (12H,I).................................................................. A. laplata n. sp.

Figures

FIGUIRE 91. Strict consensus tree from MP analysis of 51 morphological characters. Numbers below branches are MP bootstrap scores. The plesiomorphic condition is macroptery for both males and females (Hecalocorica bidentata ♂ shown in up- per left). Key stepwise transitions leading to brachyptery occur on clades A (char. 20; forewing of Hecullus bracteatus ♀ and hindwing of Acrolithus brevis ♀ shown), B (char. 22; Acrolithus brevis ♂ shown), and C (chars. 20 & 22; Dietrichana pampas ♀ shown).