Loisirella Holzinger, Holzinger & Egger, 2013

Viegas, Eduarda Fernanda Gomes, Ale-Rocha, Rosaly & Takiya, Daniela Maeda, 2021, First record of Loisirella Holzinger, Holzinger & Egger, 2013 and description of a new species from Brazil (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae), Zootaxa 5072 (1), pp. 88-94 : 89-90

Loisirella Holzinger, Holzinger & Egger, 2013

Loisirella Holzinger, Holzinger & Egger, 2013: 148–152 , Figs. 14–25, 29, 30. Type species: Loisirella erwini Holzinger, Holzinger & Egger, 2013 (original designation, key).

Updated description. Medium sized cixiid: body length 2.4–4.6 mm in males, 2.4–5.8 mm in females. Frons approximately 1.5 or 2.0 times as long as broad. Pronotum with lateral carinae divergent anteriorly. Lateral longitudinal carinae of mesonotum variable, distinct or indistinct. Forewings: sc-r cross-vein before or after first bifurcation of radial vein; MP 3 + 4 and CuA 1 veins touch each other for a short distance (about 3 times smaller than length of cross-vein icu) or long distance (subequal to length of cross-vein r-m); cross-vein icua short (about half length of cross-vein icu) or long (about twice length of cross-vein icu); apical half of the CuA 1 vein arched or angled. Metatarsus with 6+5 or 7+7 apical spines. Other characters as original description.

Remarks. This genus may be easily distinguished from the other genera of Bennarellini by a set of characters: median carina of frons missing; transversal carina, separating the frons from the vertex, present; MP 3 + 4 and CuA 1 veins touch each other for a short distance; two lateral abdominal appendages, each with a single large sensory pit with large seta.

Until now, little is known about the distribution of the Bennarellini , having records of the tribe only in the Neotropical region, with the four included genera recorded in some countries: Bennarella in Guyana and Brazil, Amazobenna in Brazil, Noabennarella in Costa Rica and Ecuador and Loisirella in Ecuador ( Holzinger et al. 2013). In this paper, Loisirella has been recorded exclusively for the Brazilian part of Amazon biome. There is no information on the biology of Loisirella , however according to the information on labels of specimens, in the Amazon biome they can be found on shrubby plants of the lower strata and on the canopy of trees. Loisirella specimens analyzed in this study were collected in May, during the rainy season in the region ( Marques-Filho et al. 1981). Besides that, based on information from labels of specimens studied and on the literature, collecting methods were light trap near ground, light trap on the canopy, and canopy fogging ( Holzinger et al. 2013).

Distribution. Brazil (Amazonas) and Ecuador (Orellana).