Neonersia fugax (Melichar, 1912) Melichar, 1912

Song, Zhi-Shun, Yin, Ji-Jun & Deckert, Juergen, 2019, A new dictyopharid genus Neonersia gen. nov. from Cameroon (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Dictyopharidae, Orthopagini), African Invertebrates 60 (1), pp. 97-108 : 103-105

Neonersia fugax (Melichar, 1912) comb. nov.

Dictyophora [sic] fugax Melichar, 1912: 137.

Nersia fugax (Melichar): Melichar 1912: 132; Metcalf 1946: 56.

Type material examined.

Holotype ♂ of Dictyophora [sic] fugax Melichar, 1912 - (1) N. Kamerun, Joh. Albrechtshöhe, IV.96, L. Conradt S.; (2) blue square label; (3) fugax n. sp. [handwriting]; (4) Holotype [newly added red label] (MFNB).

Description.

Body length excluding forewings 12.7 mm; head length (from apex of head to base of eyes) 2.2 mm; head width (including eyes) 2.3 mm; forewing length 14.0 mm.

Coloration. General colour (Fig. 1) of body pale green to green. Head (Fig. 2 A–C) excluding eyes, pronotum and mesonotum pale green to green, lateral carinae of vertex, upper lateral carinae of pronotum, carinae of tegulae stramineous. Compound eyes (Fig. 2B) pale brown, ocelli purplish-red. Forewings (Fig. 2D) with membrane hyaline, veins greenish yellow, some transverse veins green, costal area stramineous, pterostigmal area more or less greenish yellow. Thorax pale green ventrally. Legs yellowish green, tarsi piceous. Abdomen virescent or greenish ochraceous.

Structure. Head (Fig. 2 A–C) large and broad. Vertex (Fig. 2A) longer than wide, with ratio of length at midline to width between eyes 1.5:1. Frons with ratio of length at midline to maximum width 2.4:1; median and intermediate carinae absent (Fig. 2C). Forewings (Fig. 2D) hyaline, ratio of length to width about 2.9:1. Legs slender and moderately elongate; fore femora not flattened and dilated, without spine; hind tibiae each with six lateral spines and eight apical teeth; hind tarsomeres I each with nine apical teeth and tarsomeres II with eight apical teeth.

Male genitalia. Pygofer, in lateral view (Fig. 4B), with posterior margin slightly convex; in ventral view (Fig. 4C) longer than in dorsal view (Fig. 4A) with ratio of ventral to dorsal width about 1.7:1. Gonostyles (Fig. 3D) elongate, relatively narrow and concave in basal half, dorsal margin strongly inflated, dorsal apical process acute, directed anteriad. Aedea gus (Fig. 5 A–E) large and strongly inflated when it was cleared and erected in KOH solution, endosomal processes (Fig. 5E) sclerotised, straight and short, just visible from phallotheca, not surpassing lobes of phallobase, apex obtuse. Phallobase with a large ventral lobe, covered with numerous minute superficial spines, basal portion inflated and directed ventrad (Fig. 5B,D), apical portion forming two pairs of lobes: one pair gradually convergent and tapering posteriad (Fig. 5 A–C), another pair more or less rounded, directed dorsad (Fig. 5A, B); and a pair of thumb-like dorsal lobes from dorsal apex, directed dorsad (Fig. 5A, B, D). Segment X, in dorsal view (Fig. 5A), long oval and broadest medially, with ratio of length to maximum width 1.5:1, median portion broadly longitudinally convex from base to apex; in lateral view (Fig. 5B), short and robust, with ventral margin gradually widening from base to apex; anal style large, beyond apical ventral margin of segment X.

Distribution.

So far only known from Cameroon.

Remarks.

Melichar (1912) described D. fugax based on male material from northern Cameroon, but did not state the number of the specimens he used for the description. In the Melichar’s collection in MFNB, there is a single male of D. fugax which is not pinned with a type label. It fully confirms the original description including the associated locality data. Based on the Articles 72.4.1.1 and 73.1.2 of ICZN (1999), this male specimen is considered the holotype fixed by monotypy.