Pascoia Duan, 2020

Duan, Yani, Gao, Yao & Dietrich, Christopher H., 2020, Pascoia, a new Deltocephalini leafhopper genus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) from Peru, Zootaxa 4801 (1), pp. 185-190 : 185-188

Pascoia Duan gen. n.

Type species: Pascoia rakitovi Duan sp. n.

Coloration and morphology. Overall coloration pale brown with orange and fuscous marks. Forewing veins white. Mesosternum and scutellum pale brown. Femora and tibiae with fuscous marks.

Head narrower than pronotum; crown between eyes as wide at base as maximum width of eye, surface flat, posterior two-thirds with fine rugulose sculpture, anterior margin rounded, only longer medially than next to eye, rounded to face; ocellus next to eye on anterior margin. Face relatively flat, length slightly less than width; frontoclypeus relatively narrow; clypeal sulcus weakly delimited; mesal margin of eye distinctly emarginate adjacent to antennal base; antenna approximately twice as long as maximum head width; anteclypeus slightly broadened distally, not extended beyond normal curve of genae; gena broad, insinuated near eye; lorum semicircular, narrower than anteclypeus, well separated from lateral margin of face. Forewing macropterous, with numerous extra crossveins or partial crossveins in clavus and corium, particularly along costal margin and in clavus; appendix broad and extended nearly to wing apex. Hind wing fully developed with posterior branch of R and anterior branch of M separate and connected by crossvein or joined at single point preapically. Front femur with AM 1 enlarged and situated near ventral margin preapically; IC with single row of long, fine setae; AV with ~10 short, stout setae in basal half; tibia rows AD and PD with 1 and 5 macrosetae, respectively. Hind femur macrosetal formula 2+2+1, tibial rows PD, AD, AV and PV with approximately 10, 10, 13, and 34 macrosetae, respectively, PD setae approximately 50% longer than AD setae, AD with 2–5 smaller setae between respective macrosetae; tarsomere I longer than II and III combined, with two well delimited longitudinal ventral rows of stout setae, pecten with 3 platellae.

Male genitalia. Pygofer deeply emarginate dorsomedially, lobe narrowly rounded, without processes, with numerous elongate macrosetae in distal half. Segment X membranous. Valve broader than long, posterior margin rounded. Subgenital plate slightly longer than basal width, lateral margin nearly straight with single row of macrosetae, apex with few scattered fine setae. Style relatively short and broad, articulating arm short; preapical lobe acute; apophysis thick, falcate. Connective relatively short and broad, forming right angle with aedeagus in lateral view. Aedeagus with dorsal apodeme well sclerotized, flaplike and flexible, shaft tubular through most of length, with pair of long subapical appendages extended basolaterad, apex deeply cleft in ventral view, gonopore apical; basal apodeme moderately long.

Female. Sternite VII with middle of posterior margin excavated and with M-shaped macula ( Figs 1H , 4F ). First valvula dorsal sculpturing granulose to maculose, extended to dorsal margin and merging with ventral sculptured area near apex ( Figs 4 C–E). Second valvula slightly broadened to midlength then tapered to acuminate apex, with small obliquely triangular dorsal teeth over apical half ( Figs 4A, 4B ).

Etymology. This genus is named for the type locality, Pasco Province, Peru. Gender: feminine.

Remarks. We place the new genus in Deltocephalini based on the linear connective fused to the aedeagus. This genus keys to couplet 17 in the key to South American Deltocephalini of Duan et al. (2018). It agrees with the first part of the couplet ( Haldorus Oman ) in having a well sclerotized dorsal apodeme on the aedeagus but, unlike Haldorus , it lacks basal processes on the aedeagus. Ignoring the presence of a sclerotized dorsal apodeme on the aedeagus and continuing in the key beyond the second part of couplet 17, Pascoia will key to Parandanus Linnavuori & DeLong. Pascoia closely resembles species of Parandanus in external morphology, particularly the elongate body form, short, narrow crown, elongate antenna, and dorsum with symmetrical orange markings. Externally, Pascoia differs from Parandanus in its smaller size and in the presence of many supernumerary crossveins on the forewing. Pascoia also differs in having the aedeagus with a strongly bifid apex and distal processes extended basad, contrasting with the rounded or slightly notched aedeagal apex and medial processes extended distad in Parandanus . The new genus is also somewhat similar to Loeia Duan ( Duan et al. 2017), described from Thailand, in coloration and body form, but strongly differs in the structure of the male pygofer and genitalia.

The genus is described based on a single new species collected in a high elevation cloud forest on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains in Peru.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pascoia rakitovi Duan sp. n. A–C: habitus, dorsal view; D, E: habitus, lateral view; F, G: face; H: end of female abdomen, ventral view. A, B, D, F: male; C, E, G, H: female.

FIGURE 4. Pascoia rakitovi Duan sp. n. A: second valvula; B: detail of second valvula; C: first valvula; D: apex of first valvula; E: detail of first valvula; F: female sternite VII, ventral view.