Macrosteles alpinus (Zetterstedt, 1828)

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 : 366-367

Macrosteles alpinus (Zetterstedt, 1828) , new record

(Plate 1, figs. 1–8)

Cicada alpina Zetterstedt, 1828: 533

Thamnotettix fas c ifrons Stål, 1858: 194; Vilbaste, 1980: 386

Macrosteles (Macrosteles) alpinus, Ossiannilssoni, 1983: 631 –632, Figs. 2015–2018 Macrosteles alpinus, Anufriev & Emeljanov, 1988: 187 , Figs. 1–2

Length (including tegmen). Male: 3.0– 3.3 mm; female: 3.5–4.0 mm.

General coloration various, with a strong tendency toward melanism in male.

Male abdomen. 2nd acrotergite with trunk horizontal, anterior processes broad; neck slender, slightly shorter than trunk width. 2nd tergal apodeme reaching 1/3 of tergite posteriorly. 1st sternal apodeme round, with posterior lobes about as long as wide. 2nd sternal apodeme with posterior lobes reduced.

Male genitalia. Pygofer with tubercle on caudo-ventral margin; aedeagal shaft usually parallel-sided, with a row of teeth laterally; apical appendages apically divergent, about 2/3 as long as shaft, slightly wider than half of shaft at apex.

Material examined. CHINA: 2 males, 4 females, Hebei Prov., Chi City, Dahaituo Country, 7.viii.2006, Coll. Lu lin; 1 male, Xizang Autonomous Region, Rikaze County, Dongfenglinka Country, 12.vii.1991, Coll. Hu Shengchang and Jiang Basang (CAU); 18 males, 12 females, Gansu Prov., Wen County, Mt. Gaolou, 29.vii.2004, 1809m, Coll. Lu Lin; 7 males, 12 females, Ningxia Autonomous Region, Mt. Liupan, Fengtai Country, 6.vii.2008, 2300m, Coll. Men Qiulei.

Distribution. Holarctic in boreal and alpine Europe, Russia and North America, south to Mongolia (Kwon 1988) and China (Hebei, Xizang, Guansu, Ningxia).

Remarks. Vilbaste (1980) established the identities of both taxa here treated as synonyms, and we follow his interpretation, although he did not examine the type material. Ossiannilsson (1983) considered them as separate species based on misidentified specimens, but this was correcteded in Kwon’s unpublished thesis (1988), who also considered M. fascifrons and M. alpinus to be synonyms.