Literna Stål, 1866

Bucher, Manon, Bouteille, Emilien & Cesne, Maxime Le, 2024, Malagasy spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Cercopidae), a taxonomic review of genera from Madagascar, European Journal of Taxonomy 935, pp. 166-202 : 177-179

Genus Literna Stål, 1866

Fig. 5

Type species

Literna maura ( Thunberg, 1822) .

Synthetic description

Literna is an African genus, described long ago in a very brief manner by Stål (1866), making it impossible to currently determine the species with his original publication. Most of its species are present in Madagascar. Lallemand proposed a refined description of this genus in 1912 based on the general body shape and wing venation ( Lallemand 1912). He updated his description in 1949 by adding genitalia characters for males and females, but they remained too general to qualify them as characteristic for this genus ( Lallemand 1949). The male genitalia have been described for only three species: L. altipeta Lallemand & Synave, 1952 ; L. muscophila Lallemand & Synave, 1952 and L. pauliani Lallemand & Synave, 1952 ( Lallemand & Synave 1952). Hence, the description of the male genitalia for this genus is not presented in this publication. Moreover, some species, such as L. callosipenis ( Signoret, 1860) , seem to show morphological characters similar to the species now assigned to the new genus Soulierana Bucher & Bouteille gen. nov. Nevertheless, types-specimen(s) were not consulted during this study and as a result, no taxonomic revisions have been made for these taxa. However, the lack of information for the genitalia characters highlights the need for further taxonomic studies. A synthesis based on the older descriptions for the Malagasy species is presented below:

HEAD. In dorsal view ( Fig. 5A ), head as wide as long. Ocelli closer to each other than to compound eyes and generally separated by carina, barely visible or even absent in some species ( Fig. 5A, C ); a carina can be observed on frons. Postclypeus with large furrow which can extend over its entire length, but not necessarily; lateral edges of furrow usually diffused ( Fig. 5C ). In some species, such as L. callosipennis ( Signoret 1860) , L. hovana Lallemand, 1949 , L. madegassa Lallemand, 1949 and L. signata Jacobi, 1917 , lateral part of postclypeus marked with two carina and deep furrow. Postclypeus striated laterally.

THORAX. Anterior margin of pronotum strongly declining; presence of a few dimples on anterior part. Scutellum longer than wide. Hindlegs with one spine on metatibiae.

TEGMINA. Tegmina longer than wide ( Fig. 5A ) in tapered shape, except for L. ochracea Jacobi, 1917 , which possesses oval tegmina strongly rounded on posterior part. One or few bumps on anterior part of tegmina.

MALE GENITALIA. Male genitalia with sterno-lateral plates.

Distribution

Tropical Africa, South Africa and Madagascar.

Number of species: 25, 16 in Madagascar.

Literna altipeta Lallemand & Synave, 1952

Literna ankaratrana Lallemand & Synave, 1954

Literna callosa (Signoret, 1858)

Literna callosipennis ( Signoret, 1860)

Literna gracilis Lallemand, 1949

Literna hovana Lallemand, 1949

Literna lacomblei Lallemand, 1920

Literna madegassa Lallemand, 1949

Literna minuscula Jacobi, 1917

Literna muscophila Lallemand & Synave, 1952

Literna ochracea Jacobi, 1917

Literna pauliani Lallemand & Synave, 1952

Literna signata Jacobi, 1917

Literna sylvicola Lallemand & Synave, 1952

Literna tanalae Lallemand, 1920

Literna vicina Lallemand, 1942

Figures

Fig. 5. Literna vicina Lallemand, 1942, ♂ (MNHN(EH) 24508). A. Dorsal view. B. Lateral view. C. Frontal view. D. Labels. Scale bars = 1 mm.