Reticulum Dai, Li & Chen

Dai, Wu & Zhang, Yalin, 2008, Revision of the leafhopper genus Reticulum (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae), Zootaxa 1781, pp. 47-54 : 48

Reticulum Dai, Li & Chen

Reticulum Dai, Li & Chen, 2006:398 . Type species: Reticulum transvittatum Dai, Li & Chen, 2006: 398 .

Description. Head and thorax yellow, variably marked with brown; tegmen hyaline with variable brown irroration.

Head including eyes slightly wider than pronotum. Crown slightly longer medially than next to eyes, shorter than width between eyes; anterior margin roundly produced anteriorly in dorsal view; disc somewhat flat. Transition between vertex and frontoclypeus rounded. Eyes fairly large; ocellus situated on frontal margin of crown next to corresponding eye, separated from eye by distance equal to 1.5 times diameter of ocellus. Frontoclypeus narrow, longer than width between eyes. Clypellus slightly expanded apically. Pronotum with anterior margin roundly produced and posterior margin slightly concave. Mesonotum almost as long as pronotum, with transverse suture curved and depressed. Forewing appendix wide; inner subapical cell closed; 4 apical cells. Female with abdominal sternite VII 3–5 times as long as abdominal sternite VI, its caudal margin produced medially into a bilobed structure.

Male pygofer longer than broad in lateral view, with a branched process on inner surface arising near dorsal margin, with several macrosetae posteriorly. Valve narrowly triangular. Subgenital plate elongate, triangular, with a uniseriate row of macrosetae along ventrolateral margin. Connective Y-shaped, stem longer than arms. Style elongate, apophysis short, tapered to acute apex and curved laterally; lateral lobe weakly developed, with a few fine setae. Aedeagus with basal apodeme well developed, shaft tubular and elongate, flanked laterally by a pair of basal processes, shorter than shaft; phallotreme apical.

Diagnosis. The genus Reticulum is similar to the genera Phlepsius Fieber and Orientus DeLong in having hyaline tegmina with variable brown irroration, but can be distinguished from them by the branched process of the pygofer on the dorsal margin, and by the aedeagal shaft having a pair of basal processes. This genus also resembles Allotapes Emeljanov 1964 , but the latter can be easily recognised by the basal ventral processes of the aedeagus and pygofer without a branched process on the dorsal margin. The genus Reticulum is also similar to North American genera Parphlepsius Baker, Pendarus Ball , and Norvellina Ball ( Hamilton, 1975; Kramer & DeLong, 1969) in having hyaline tegmina with variable brown irroration, but can be distinguished from them by the branched process of the pygofer on the dorsal margin, and by the style with apophysis tapered to acute apex and curved laterally.

Distribution. China (Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, Guizhou, Yunnan).

Biology. Some specimens of Reticulum transvittatum Dai, Li & Chen were collected on Malus pumila Mill (Apple) and Crataegus (hawthorn).

Remarks. Dai, Li and Chen (2006) established the genus Reticulum , with R. transvittatum as the type species. It was diagnosed as having the pygofer side with a process on the ventral margin and the aedeagus with a paired projection basally. However, we found the pygofer process not on the ventral margin but on dorsal margin in R. transvittatum , while the pygofer process arising near the dorsal margin (see Fig. 2) is diagnostic for the genus.