Sinojassus, Dai, Wu, Zhang, Xinmin & Zhang, Yalin, 2010

Dai, Wu, Zhang, Xinmin & Zhang, Yalin, 2010, A new Oriental genus of Iassini leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Iassinae) with description of four new species, Zootaxa 2641, pp. 15-26 : 16-17

Sinojassus gen. nov.

Type species: Sinojassus loberus sp. nov.

Pale greenish brown with brown spots.

Body robust, with head and thorax transversely striate. Head including eyes in dorsal view distinctly narrower than pronotum; crown short, as long medially as next to eyes, strongly declivous, in profile slightly convex from hind margin of pronotum to antennal ledges. Face broader than long. Ocelli on anterior margin of crown, equidistant from eyes and midline of head. Antennal ledges prominent, oblique. Lateral frontal suture inconspicuous, obsolete a short distance dorsad of antennal ledge. Clypellus slightly narrowed apically. Gena with outer margin concave below eyes. Pronotum declivous in anterior half, with anterior margin roundly produced and posterior margin slightly concave, lateral margins strongly carinate, ratio of head width to width of hind margin of pronotum 0.78-0.86. Exposed part of mesonotum and scutellum almost as long as pronotum, with scutellar suture curved. Forewing covered with irregularly distributed black dots, each associated with short, inconspicuous seta; venation well delimited, pale, with black dots on veins bordering apical cells; costal area with numerous cross veins; five apical cells and three subapical cells present; apical cells 1-4 more than twice as long as wide, texture of inner apical cell membranous and different from that of other cells; inner subapical cell closed; appendix wide, overlapping counterpart when wings are at rest. Hindwing with four closed apical cells, veins RP and MA confluent distally. Fore femur with well developed posteroventral and anterodorsal setae, with numerous accessory setae. Hind femur macrosetal formula 2+2+1; tibia nearly straight, armed with following stout setae: PV 21, PD 14, AD 11. Hind tarsomere I without pair of dorsoapical macrosetae, preapical plantar setae absent, pecten with 5 platellae.

Male pregenital sternite tapered, approximately 1.7 times longer than sternite VII. Genital capsule strongly retracted into segment VIII at rest, taller than long when everted; pygofer with caudal margin slightly convex in lateral view, with or without submarginal macrosetae, without ventral process. Subgenital plates fused basally, subtriangular or quadrate, depressed, shorter than pygofer, curved dorsally in lateral view, with several fine setae laterally on ventral margin and very short stout setae near apex, mesal margins not or only weakly divergent. Connective absent. Style elongate and slender, apodeme straight, slender, much longer than apophysis, extended antero-dorsally, apophysis tapered to apex, curved at right or obtuse angle, about one third total length of style, with several short setae dorsally. Aedeagus well separated from style, suspended by membranous ligaments, simple, without processes; gonopore apical or subapical; membranous area between mesal margin of pygofer and dorsal apodeme of aedeagus moderately long.

Female with abdominal sternite VII twice as long as sternite VI, caudal margin concave. Ovipositor not extending beyond pygofer. Valvulae long and narrow, strongly arcuate; first valvulae submarginal dorsal sculpturing scale-like, occupying 0.60 total length; second valvulae with two distal prominent teeth on dorsal margin.

Etymology: The name of the genus, which is masculine, was derived by combining Sino -, meaning Chinese, with -jassus, a common suffix for genus names in this tribe.

Remarks: The robust form, rounded head without distinct crown and distal confluence of hind wing veins R and M of Sinojassus serve to place it in the tribe Iassini. This placement is also supported by the morphology of the female genitalia. As in other Iassini, the ovipositor of Sinojassus is long, narrow and sword-shaped with few prominent preapical teeth. The structure of the male genital capsule of Sinojassus , particularly the short, depressed subgenital plates, indicates that it belongs to a group of Oriental genera that includes Trocnadella , Coriojassus , and Hyalojassus . The latter two genera were placed in a separate tribe, Hyalojassini Evans, by Evans (1972), based on their short subgenital plates and ventral pygofer appendages. Dietrich (2005) treated Hyalojassini as a junior synonym of Iassini because the diagnostic features of Hyalojassini noted by Evans are shared with most New World Iassini. Sinojassus differs from Coriojassus , Hyalojassus and Trocnadella in lacking a sclerotized connective and having the apodeme of the male style much longer than the apophysis and well separated from the aedeagus. In this respect, the new genus resembles some New World Iassini (e.g., Aztrania Blocker ), but no New World genus has the unique combination of features found in Sinojassus including: pygofer appendages absent; sclerotized connective absent; subgenital plates simple, depressed, and united at base. Nevertheless, the group comprising Sinojassus , Hyalojassus , Coriojassus and Trocnadella appears to be more closely related to the New World Iassini than to any other Old World iassine genera ( Dai & Dietrich, 2010).