Euthemopsaltria laeta, Moulds, 2014

Moulds, M. S., 2014, Euthemopsaltria laeta, a remarkable new genus and species of cicada (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae: Chlorocystini) from Queensland, Australian Entomologist 41 (4), pp. 177-190 : 180-182

Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n.

( Figs 1-12 )

Types. Holotype ♂, QUEENSLAND: Windsor Tableland , NNW of Mossman, 20.ii.1982, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (in Australian Museum, Sydney). Paratypes: 1 ♂, Kuranda, 25.ix.1981, W.N.B. Quick (in Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra); 3 ♂♂, 9 km along Merragallan Rd, WSW of Malanda , 12.v.2003, 23.vi.2003, 21.ii.2004, J. Olive (in collection of J. Olive, Cairns); 1 ♂, near Millaa Millaa , 17.564°S, 145.579°E, 25.iv.2014, B. Hacobian; 1 ♀, Malanda district, v.1998, S. Breeden; 1 ♂, same data as holotype but 16.i.1988; 1 ♀, Windsor Tableland , 5.iii.1992, J. Hasenpusch; 1 ♂, Mt Lewis , iv.1987, J. Mallet; 1 ♀, Kuranda, i.1993, S. Lamond; 1 ♀, Kuranda, 11.iv.1981, G. Wood (in collection of M. Moulds, Kuranda); 1 ♂, Kirrama Range, Douglas Ck Rd , 800 m, 9-12.xii.1986, Monteith, Thompson & Hamlet (in Queensland Museum, Brisbane); 1 ♂, Kuranda, F.P. Dodd (in South Australian Museum, Adelaide).

Other material examined. 1 ♂, Mt Glorious State Forest , southeastern Queensland, 25.xii-2.i.87, from Argyrodendron actinophyllum [intercept flight trap] by Y. Basset (in author's collection). This specimen is indistinguishable from those of the type series but in view of its locality being so distant from other known localities it might represent another species.

Description. Male. Head, thorax and abdomen primarily uniformly leaf green although a little paler below; underside partly pale pinkish, mainly at base of abdomen and bases of legs. Head with supra-antennal plates and anterior rim of postclypeus brown, tending paler on supra-antennal plates. Eyes of live specimens pale to light brown. Antennal plates and anterior margin of postclypeus brown, glossy. Rostrum reaching to apices of mid coxae. Timbals ( Fig. 6 ) tending whitish with short ribs light brown; with 11-12 long parallel ribs. Forewings uniformly and strongly tinted green; basal membrane pale orange; venation as in Fig. 4 but individually variable in the vicinity of subapical cells and to a small degree in the apical cells; venation green in live specimens except for much of vein 2A+3A, which is brown. Hind wings very weakly tinted green; venation as in Fig. 5 but with some individual variation in the division of apical cells; venation very pale green. Legs green with fore tibiae brown, the joint between tibia and femur on mid and hind legs brown, all tarsi brown or mostly so, all pretarsal claws black on their distal half.

Genitalia ( Figs 7-10 ) with uncal lobes robust, broad in ventral view, claw-like in lateral view. Aedeagus ( Figs 7-8 ) with theca simple and tubular, gradually tapering to apex, basally turned through 180º, convolute on inner surface; basal plate in dorsal view tending to be rounded, indented at apical midline in a V-shape.

Female. Similar to male. Abdominal segment 9 stocky, dorsal midline clearly less than twice the length of that of tergite 8; apical spine small, blunt; ovipositor sheath not longer than abdominal segment 9.

Distinguishing features. See generic description above.

Measurements (mm). n = 7 males, 4 females. Length of body: male 32.6-34.8 (33.93); female 22.8-23.7 (23.25). Length of forewing: male 33.8-35.7 (34.6); female 30.0-35.9 (32.95). Width of head: male 5.2-5.6 (5.43); female 5.3-5.6 (5.45). Width of pronotum: male 7.8-8.2 (8.03); female 7.1-8.5 (7.8).

Etymology. From the Latin laetus meaning joyful, glad, pleasant.

Distribution and habitat ( Fig. 11 ). Northeastern Queensland, where it is known only from the Windsor Tableland, Mount Lewis, Kuranda, Malanda and Millaa Millaa districts and the Kirrama Range. Adults have been taken in all months from December to June and at Malanda can be found throughout the year (J. Olive pers. comm.). It is a locally common species around Malanda, Millaa Millaa and on the Windsor Tableland. A single known male from Mount Glorious State Forest in southeastern Queensland may belong to this species.

Adults usually perch amongst tangled vegetation a little beyond reach and are normally difficult to capture but occasionally they occur near ground level where they are easily taken by hand. The species is found only in primary rainforest where it tends to be locally common.

Song. Males sing at dusk when it is almost dark and continue for some 15-20 minutes. The call is loud, resembles a constant, high-pitched whistle and most likely is a pure tone (i.e. resonates at a precise frequency); no recordings are available.

Figures

Figs 1-2. Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n.: (1) live male, lateral view; (2) live female, lateral view. Photos Stan and Kaisa Breeden.

Figs 3-8. Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n., male: (3) abdomen, ventral view; (4) forewing; (5) hind wing; (6) timbal; (7) aedeagus, lateral view; (8) basal plate, dorsal view, apex at bottom. op operculum; ti timbal; ty tympanum; I-VII numbered sternites.

Figs 9-10. Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n., male genitalia: (9) lateral view; (10) ventral view with claspers spread apart. cl clasper; pyg pygofer; th theca of aedeagus.

Fig. 11. Map of northeastern Queensland centred around Cairns, showing distribution of Euthemopsaltria laeta sp. n.; black dots indicate known localities.

Fig. 12. One of two equally parsimonious trees from a cladistic analysis derived using the procedure described in the text above (length 42, CI 73, RI 78) from an analysis employing Lembeja vitticollis as outgroup, with all characters unordered and equally weighted. Numbers at nodes are bootstrap values greater than 50% from 1,000 replications. Character transformations are shown at each node: black bars = nonhomoplasious forward change; grey bars = homoplasious forward change; white bars = reversal (whether homoplasious or not).