Bispinalta caledonica, Delorme, Quentin, 2017

Delorme, Quentin, 2017, Description of four new genera and five new species of cicadas from New Caledonia (Insecta: Hemiptera, Cicadoidea, Cicadidae), Zootaxa 4243 (1), pp. 97-124 : 111-116

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4243.1.4
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8D196AA9-A78D-48B2-B7AD-C1545BACC529
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6030213
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/963FA504-8549-FF86-E890-8A09ADFBFF0C
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Bispinalta caledonica
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Bispinalta caledonica View in CoL sp. nov.

( Figs. 15–22 View FIGURE 15 View FIGURE 16 View FIGURE 17 View FIGURE 18 View FIGURE 19 View FIGURE 20 View FIGURE 21 View FIGURE 22 )

Material examinated. Holotype male ( MNHN 23019 About MNHN ) and paratype female ( MNHN 23020 About MNHN ), Nouvelle-Calédonie, Province Sud, Tribu de Ouitchambo, 18/I/2015, Quentin Delorme rec, caught by net ( MNHN) .

Body measurements (in mm, value refer to paratype). FL: 26.4; FW: 8.8; HW: 6.2; HL: 1.8; BL: 1.9.

Description of male ( Figs. 15–19 View FIGURE 15 View FIGURE 16 View FIGURE 17 View FIGURE 18 View FIGURE 19 ). Head. Vertex mostly green with big green ocelli; each ocellus set on wide black patch reaching epicranial suture only in anterior tip. Epicranial suture green, wide and deep. Frons black. Dorsal postclypeal area green, flat and horizontal. Supra-antennal plate black. Antennal flagella and pedicel black. Postclypeus mostly green with black ornamentations in upper part. Anteclypeus green; lateral parts bearing long silver pubescence. Rostrum with labrum and mentum greenish, apex reaching mid trochanter; labium yellowish, except blackish apex of rostrum.

Thorax. Pronotum entirely green. Pronotal collar and lateral parts green. Mesonotum green; parapsidal suture not distinct; submedian and lateral sigilla green; scutal depression not distinct. Cruciform elevation greenish with apices of anterior branches black. Opercula teardrop shaped, distant from lateral margin of tympanal cavity, directed towards distomedial margin of tympanal cavity, apically obtuse, bearing sparse silver pubescence. Meracanthus sharp, triangular, green, and shorter than opercula.

Wings. Forewings hyaline; venation pale greenish, becoming darker towards apical cells and ambient veins. Hindwings hyaline, reaching middle of forewings; venation brownish.

Legs. Fore femora green. Mid and hind femora green. Fore tibiae green, becoming darker apically. Mid and hind tibiae greenish. Fore and mid tarsi and claws dark brown.

Abdomen. Tergites 1 to 8 uniformly green. Sternites 1 to 6 uniformly greenish; strenite 7 greenish, becoming slightly darker apically; sternite 8 dark brown. Timbals broad, bearing six long ribs; ribs 1 to 6 fused dorsally and 1 to 5 fused ventrally; five intercalary ribs.

Genitalia. Pygofer entirely green; upper lobes well developed, prominent, erected, apically sharp; lower lobe rounded and yellowish, not prominent but distinct. Claspers slender, parallel, straight, not hooked, apically sharp and slightly curved inwards. Pseudoparameres of aedeagus apically divergent.

Body measurements (in mm, first value refers to holotype and second to paratype). FL: 21.4–21.5, FW: 7.0– 7.1, HW: 5.4–5.6, HL: 1.5–1.5, BL: 15.6–15.7.

Acoustic Behavior. Male calling song ( Fig. 20 View FIGURE 20 ) formed by two types of phrase; a long phrase, lasting around 16 s, followed by a much shorter second phrase lasting 1.3 s and formed by 5 to 7 echemes lasting 100 to 120 ms. Song frequency ranges from 11 kHz to 32.5 kHz. The main energy is contained between 13 kHz and 29.5 kHz and reaches peak amplitude at 16 kHz.

Description of female ( Fig. 21–22 View FIGURE 21 View FIGURE 22 ). Head. Colouration similar to that of male.

Thorax. Colouration similar to that of male. Mesonotum colouration similar to that of male.

Legs. Similar in colour to those of male.

Abdomen. Tergites slightly darker in colouration to those of male; abdominal segment 9 brownish with a pair of longitudinal near-dorsal black fasciae that extend to the anterior edge and ventrolaterally to some extent, dorsal beak terminally pointed; sternites colouration similar to that of male.

Genitalia. Ovipositor sheath black with long golden hairs, reaching approximately the tip of dorsal beak of abdominal segment 9.

Distribution. Species know from only one station in the south-west of Main Island.

Derivation of name. Name formed from “Calédonie”.

Habitat and ecology. Bispinalta caledonica sp. nov., inhabits shrubbery vegetation of mining scrub formation where Niaouli tree ( Melaleuca quinquenervia ) are scatted or absent. We have no information on seasonality and peak period of emergence.