Oteana lubra (Kirkaldy) Löcker & Fletcher & Larivière & Gurr, 2006

Löcker, Birgit, Fletcher, Murray J., Larivière, Marie-Claude & Gurr, Geoff M., 2006, The Australian Pentastirini (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae), Zootaxa 1290 (1290), pp. 1-138 : 93-95

Oteana lubra (Kirkaldy) , comb. nov.

( Figs 28A–D, 47M–S)

Oliarus lubra Kirkaldy, 1906: 400 .

Oliarus lubra var. vitiensis Kirkaldy, 1907: 109 syn. nov.

Type material

Lectotype, here designated, ♂ (examined), AUSTRALIA, Qld : Bundaberg, ix.–xii.1904 (Koebele) ( BPBM) , Paralectotypes (examined), AUSTRALIA, Qld: 2 ♀ same data as holotype (Koebele) ( BPBM) ; 1 ♀ Bundaberg, xi.1904 ( BPBM) ; 1 ♀ Brisbane, xi.1904 ( BPBM) .

Type of O. lubra var. vitiensis , 1 ♂ (examined), FIJI: Navua , ii.1906 ( BPBM, Nr 1194).

Remarks A lectotype is designated herein in order to clarify the identity of the species.

Other material examined

AUSTRALIA: NSW (57 ♂, 55 ♀) , NT (24 ♂, 11 ♀), Qld (76 ♂, 59 ♀) , SA (24 ♂, 5 ♀), VIC (2 ♂).

Distribution

Australia (Queensland), Fiji, New Caledonia.

Remarks

Fennah recorded this species from Fiji ( Fennah 1950) and New Caledonia ( Fennah 1969). This material has not been examined to confirm this distribution.

Colour

Vertex light to mid brown, carinae paler; face light brown, carinae paler, anteclypeus darker; pronotum light brown; mesonotum mid to dark brown, paler between lateral and sublateral carinae; legs light brown; forewing hyaline colourless with brown marks along crossveins, veins light brown, apically darker, tubercles concolorous with veins, pterostigma light to mid brown; abdominal sternites light to mid brown.

Morphology

Body length: ♂ 6.4–7.7 mm, ♀ 8.4–10.0 mm.

Head: Vertex (total length) 1.4–1.6 times longer than wide; basal emargination obtusely angled or rectangular. Postclypeus with well­developed median carina. Rostrum not reaching hind coxae.

Thorax: Hind margin of pronotum obtusely angled. Mesonotum with evanescent or well­developed carinae. Forewing 3.1–3.9 times longer than wide; costa with 0–1 tubercles; 9 apical cells.

Male genitalia: Anal tube as in Figs 47Q–S; pygophore and genital styles as in Figs 47M–N. Aedeagus ( Figs 47O–P): Phallotheca with a spine (a) forking into a short branch (a1) and a very long curved branch (a2); a spine (b) forking into three branches (b1, b2, b3); a very short spine (c); and sometimes with a very slender spine (d); phallotheca with a sclerotised rounded flap dorsally. Flagellum membranous, unarmed.

Remarks

In his original description of Oliarus lubra, Kirkaldy (1906) gave the body lengths of male (8.5 mm) and female (8.5–9.25 mm) specimens. Kirkaldy (1907) described O. lubra var. vitiensis based on male specimens with a body size “as little as 6 mm ” from Fiji. The smaller body size is the only character he provides for differentiation of the two varieties. A specimen from Navua, Fiji (the only specimen of O. lubra var. vitiensis available to us for examination) had a body length of 6.5 mm which is still within the range of body length of Australian specimens of Ot. lubra . The morphological configuration of the specimen assigned by Kirkaldy to O. lubra var. vitiensis does not support the assumption that this taxon is differentiated from Ot. lubra from Australia. Consequently, O. lubra var. vitiensis is synonymised with Ot. lubra .