Macrosteles gracilis Zhang

Yalin, Zhang, Lin, Lu & Kwon, Yong Jung, 2013, Review of the Leafhopper Genus Macrosteles Fieber (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) from China, Zootaxa 3700 (3), pp. 361-392 : 370

Macrosteles gracilis Zhang & Lu, sp. nov.

(Plate 10, figs. 11–20)

Length (including tegmen). Male: 3.0– 3.1 mm; female: 3.8–4.0 mm.

General coloration brown to black; head with irregular confluent black marks except ocelli and middle suture. Forewing subhyaline, pale to infuscate.

Male abdomen. 2nd acrotergite with trunk V-shaped and very thick, neck stout and broad. 2nd tergal apodeme with anterior lobe developed, extending beyond anterior margin, with median projection. 1st abdominal sternal apodemes with anterior lobes developed and 2.0 times longer than basal width, apex rounded; with posterior lobes rounded, as long as wide. 2nd abdominal sternal apodemes with posterior lobes robust, extending about 1.5 times basal width.

Male genitalia. Aedeagal shaft slightly slender, smooth; apical appendages crossed.

Holotype: male, CHINA, Qinghai Prov., Dulan City, 1956, Coll. Ma Shijun (SHEM). Paratypes: 2 males, 2 females, same data as holotype (SHEM).

Distribution. China (Qinghai).

Remarks. This species is similar to M. sordidipennis , but can be differentiated from the latter by the characters of male abdomen and genitalia: 2nd abdominal sternal apodemes with posterior lobes robust, length about 1.5 times basal width.

Etymology. The specific epithet “ gracilis ” refers to the very slender shaft of the aedeagus.