Arboridia itangulata, Guglielmino, Adalgisa, Poggi, Francesco & Bückle, Christoph, 2011

Guglielmino, Adalgisa, Poggi, Francesco & Bückle, Christoph, 2011, Contribution to the knowledge on Typhlocybinae (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae) in Italy with description of two new species, Zootaxa 2979, pp. 41-59 : 50

3) Arboridia itangulata sp. nov.

( Fig. 8 )

Type series. Holotype Male: Toscana (Siena): Piancastagnaìo, SP 66, km 1,7, between Tre Case and Belvedere; ~ 800–850m; 1/9/2005 (224); forest with Quercus cerris , Erica arborea , Poaceae ; Guglielmino & Bückle leg..— Paratypes: same data as holotype; 1 male, 2 females.—Toscana (Siena): Piancastagnaìo, SP 66, km 1,7, between Tre Case and Belvedere; ~ 800–850m; 1/9/2007 (403); forest with Quercus cerris , Erica arborea , Poaceae ; Guglielmino & Bückle leg.; 1 male, 1 female.—Toscana (Firenze): Marradi; 400m; 01.08.1993; on Crataegus monogyna ; F. Poggi leg.; 1 male.

(The locality numbers in parenthesis coincide with the number system used by Guglielmino and Bückle in their faunistic and zoogeographic papers).

Holotype and paratypes from Piancastagnaio are deposited in Dipartimento di Protezione delle Piante, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy (collection Guglielmino) (CG), the paratype from Marradi is in Collection Francesco Poggi (CP).

Description. In size, shape and coloration as Arboridia ribauti (Oss.) and similar species; distinguishable only by genital morphology.

Body length: 3.1–3.4 mm (Holotype 3.25mm).

Male genital apparatus: Aedeagus shaft in lateral view ( Fig. 8 A) equally curved in dorsal direction, originating near dorsal portion of base, dorsal and ventral side more or less parallel, only in its apical quarter narrowing, with appendages touching its ventral margin, in their middle part with ventrally directed bending; in ventral view ( Fig. 8 B) with almost parallel sides, in its basal half only little narrower, apex more or less straight, appendages separate up to their base, slightly converging, in their apical fifth distinctly diverging. Genital styles as in Fig. 8 C. Pygofer process (corne anale in Ribaut) ( Fig. 8 D) on its dorsal side distinctly, sometimes sharply angular.

Diagnosis. The male genital morphology of A. itangulata sp. nov. implies a close relationship to A. expansa (Zachvatkin) ( Fig. 9 ), described from Turkey and recorded also from Bulgaria and Ukraine ( Nast 1987), above all by the shape of genital styles and aedeagus. Apart from slight differences in the shape of the aedeagus shaft (stouter in A. itangulata ) and aedeagus appendages (in A. itangulata distinctly undulate and barely deviating from the shaft, in A. expansa slightly curved and deviating distinctly from the shaft) a distinct difference to this species (and to most other Arboridia species) consists in the stout shape and angular dorsal margin of the pygofer processes in A. itangulata (pygofer process in A. expansa longer, slender, with equally curved dorsal margin).

Distribution. A. itangulata is known up to now only from Toscana.

Ecological data. Adults were collected in August and September in mixed forest. The altitude of the so far known collecting sites varies between 400 and 850 m. Nothing is known about the host plant, the number of yearly generations and the overwintering stage.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Arboridia itangulata sp. nov., male Paratype, Toscana, Marradi: Aedeagus lateral (A); aedeagus ventral (B); left genital style from outside (C); left pygofer process from outside (D).

FIGURE 9. Arboridia expansa (Zachvatkin). Aedeagus lateral (A); aedeagus ventral (B); genital style (C); pygofer process (D). After Zachvatkin (1946).