Iragua albinoi, Cavichioli & Mejdalani, 2017

Cavichioli, Rodney R. & Mejdalani, Gabriel, 2017, The sharpshooter genus Iragua Melichar: a new Colombian species, the female of I. ferruginea Cavichioli, and a key to males of the genus (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellini), Zootaxa 4281 (1), pp. 120-126 : 121

Iragua albinoi sp. nov.

( Figures 1–7 )

Male holotype. Total length 9.2 mm.

Head ( Fig. 1 ) with median length of crown about 6/10 of interocular width and 4/10 of transocular width; surface of crown with slight longitudinal fovea; antennal ledges, in lateral view, with anterior margin oblique and convex; frons slightly flattened medially. Pronotum ( Fig. 1 ) with posterior margin almost rectilinear; disk without transverse rugae; scutellum not transversely striate. Forewings ( Fig. 1 ) without distinct membrane; surface opaque; second apical cell slightly narrowed apically. Remaining morphological characters of head and thorax as in the generic description of Young (1977: 399).

Color ( Fig. 1 ). Ground color of dorsum brown. Posterior portion of crown and anterior portion of pronotum suffused with dark brown; pronotum with pair of large red triangular areas; scutellum red. Forewings with most of clavus red; transverse transcommissural brown stripe at midlength of clavus; small brown area adjacent to claval sulcus, located slightly posterior to transcommissural stripe; base and apex of clavus dark brown; corium brown with two large oblique red areas, the first on basal half parallel to brachial cell, the second extending anteriorly from apical portions of brachial cell and inner discal cell, where it is broader, to near costal margin; distal third of corium with white stripe extending from outer margin of first apical cell to costal margin, followed by narrower parallel red stripe; white arc close to apex of anteapical cells, extending from outer margin of first apical cell to costal margin. Face, lateral and ventral portions of thorax, and legs mostly brownish-yellow; labium brown.

Male terminalia with pygofer ( Fig. 2 ), in lateral view, moderately produced posteriorly; dorsoapical margin narrowly rounded; with long macrosetae on posterior half of disk; without processes. Valve ( Fig. 3 ), in ventral view, subrectangular. Subgenital plates ( Figs. 2–3 ), in ventral view, subtriangular, distinctly narrowed on median third; with long uniseriate macrosetae and with many microsetae; in lateral view, plates not extending as far posteriorly as apex of pygofer. Connective ( Fig. 4 ), in dorsal view, T-shaped; arms robust; stalk slender, with distinct median keel. Style ( Fig. 4 ), in dorsal view, extending as far posteriorly as connective; without preapical lobe; apical portion of apophysis curved outwards; apex obtuse. Aedeagus ( Figs. 5–6 ), in lateral view, with shaft strongly curved ventrally; apex narrowed; gonopore located at apex; atrium well-developed, projected ventrally, with pair of strong unciform processes; in caudal view, with short basidorsal apodemes. Paraphyses ( Fig. 7 ) articulated to apex of connective; in dorsal view, with cup-shaped stalk about as long as rami, the latter slender and subparallel (just slightly divergent apically).

Female unknown.

Material examined. Male holotype: “ COLOMBIA: Huila, \ San Agustin , 1,500 m. \ 8.xi.1971 ”; “ M. Cooper \ B.M. 1972-275” ( DZUP).

Etymology. We are pleased to name this beautiful new species for Prof. Dr. Albino Morimasa Sakakibara (Departamento de Zoologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná). Dr. Sakakibara’s works on the treehoppers, which include outstanding descriptions, habitus drawings and photographs, have always been an inspiration to us.

Taxonomic notes. Iragua albinoi sp. nov. can be distinguished from the remaining species of the genus by the color pattern of the forewings, i.e., most of clavus red and corium brown with two large oblique red areas and a transverse white stripe followed by a narrower red stripe ( Fig. 1 ). The new species does not have two dark spots at the apex of each forewing, a feature that perhaps defines a group of species within Iragua (including I. chola , I. diversa , I. ferruginea ( Fig. 8 ), I. infuscata , I. montana , I. nubila and I. vallis ). In the male terminalia, the pair of unciform processes of the aedeagal atrium is a diagnostic feature of I. albinoi ( Figs. 5–6 ). We provide below a key to males of the 14 known species of the genus. Readers are referred to Wilson et al. (2009), who provided digital images of the body in dorsal view of 11 Iragua species; these images are useful for recognizing and comparing the species and can be used in conjunction with our key.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Iragua albinoi sp. nov., male holotype. 1, dorsal habitus (length 9.2 mm). 2, genital capsule, lateral view (scale bar: 0.5 mm). 3, pygofer, valve, and subgenital plate, ventral view. 4, connective and style, dorsal view. 5, ejaculatory reservoir, aedeagus, and anal tube, lateral view. 6, aedeagus, caudal view. 7, paraphyses, dorsal view. ASH: aedeagal shaft; ATR: aedeagal atrium; BDA: aedeagal basidorsal apodeme; PYG: pygofer; RAM: paraphyses ramus; SGP: subgenital plate; STK: paraphyses stalk; UNP: aedeagal unciform process; VAL: valve.

FIGURES 8 – 12. Iragua ferruginea Cavichioli, 1991, female. 8, dorsal habitus (length 10.9 mm; MNRJ specimen from the type-locality; modified from Wilson et al. 2009; antennae and legs not depicted). 9 – 10, sternite VII, ventral view (un- and macerated specimen, respectively). 11, “ internal ” sternite VIII, dorsal view. 12, valvifer I and pygofer, lateral view (scale bar: 0.5 mm). DPL: sternite VIII dorsal plate; EMR: sternite VII median emargination; GON: gonangulum; KEE: sternite VII median keel; PYG: pygofer; VLI: valvifer I; VPL: sternite VIII ventral plate.