Myxia Bahder & Bartlett 2019

Barrantes Barrantes, Edwin A., Zumbado Echavarria, Marco A., Bartlett, Charles R., Helmick, Ericka E. & Bahder, Brian W., 2024, A new species of planthopper in the genus Myxia (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha Fulgoromorpha: Delphacoidea: Cixiidae) from the cloud forest in Costa Rica, Zootaxa 5481 (4), pp. 440-452 : 443-445

Genus Myxia Bahder & Bartlett 2019

Type species: Myxia belinda Bahder & Bartlett 2019

Diagnosis. Vertex longer at midline than wide at widest point (at base), median carina present, evanescent distally. Hind tibiae lacking lateral spines (a tribal feature), forecoxae lacking denticle. Terminalia bilaterally symmetrical. Medioventral process of pygofer subtriangular. Gonostyli in lateral view with an acute apex and bearing a small subapical knob (directed anteriorly or lateroanteriorly, giving the apex a bifid appearance), and in ventral view with a distinct ‘tooth’ on the inner lateral margin bearing a hooked apex. Periandrium (≈phallobase) usually ring-like at aedeagal base, bearing one or more elongated projection(s) of varying form(s), at least one of which subtends the aedeagus. Anal tube short and stout, apex projecting ventrally or ventrocaudally.

Remarks. Species of Myxia , except for M. baynardi , tend to be pale (often yellowish when preserved), with a mostly white frons bearing a large yellowish patch medially above the frontoclypeal suture. The best diagnostic features are on the male terminalia consisting of the form of the male gonostyli with the subapical knob (directed anteriorly, best seen from lateral view, Fig. 5A ) and bearing a tooth on the inner lateral margin (best seen from caudal view, Fig. 5B ), the subtriangular medioventral lobe of the pygofer, and the phallobase projection subtending the aedeagus. Haplaxius varies greatly in coloration, but seldom with a pale frons bearing a median spot, and all species appear to lack the phallobase projection subtending the aedeagus.

Myxia baynardi is a dark fuscous species with a broad vertex ( Fig. 2 ) and more extreme development of the phallobase. Myxia baynardi is reliably placed as the basal species in Myxia and we have seen additional undescribed species similar to M. baynardi (e.g., iNaturalist observations #31637865 and #44259594 from Costa Rica) that depart from the general habitus of Myxia . It appears likely that these taxa may deserve placement in a separate genus if this is supported by additional molecular data.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Dorsal view of head and thorax of Myxia species; A) M. baynardi, B) M. hernandezi, C) M. delta, D) M. belinda.

FIGURE 5. Adult male Myxia villaloboi sp. n. forewing venation; wing venation ter54minology following Bourgoin et al. (2015); black text = vein, italic text = crossvein, green text = cell.