Hecullus, Oman, 1949

Zahniser, James N., 2021, Revision of the New World leafhopper tribe Faltalini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) and the evolution of brachyptery, Zootaxa 4954 (1), pp. 1-160 : 70-71

Hecullus Oman

Type species: Hecalus bracteatus Ball, 1901 ; designated.

Hecullus Oman, 1949: 31 [original description, illustration, morphology, key]; Metcalf, 1963: 22 [catalogue]; Hamilton, 1975: 485 [classification]; Oman et al., 1990: 217, 324 [catalogue]; Hamilton, 2000: 434–435, 452 [classification, morphology, illustration, key]; Zahniser & Webb, 2004: 668–669, 672 [morphology, classification, illustration, discussion]; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2010: 496, 498, 508 [classification, phylogeny, DNA sequences]; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2013: 7, 16–18, 85 [phylogeny, classification, DNA sequences]; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2015: 479, 482 [phylogeny, DNA sequences]; Zahniser, 2007 [online catalogue]; Freytag & Gaiani, 2017 [online catalogue]

Diagnosis. Hecullus can be distinguished from other genera of Faltalini by the macropterous males and subbrachypterous females with forewing venation not strongly reticulated, crown texture completely shagreen, pronotum texture completely or mostly shagreen, frontoclypeus not inflated subapically, and aedeagus without apical processes and with a pair of simple basal processes.

Body. Male, 4.3–5.5 mm. Female 6.0– 9.5 mm. Body length 4.0–4.6x width of pronotum (males), 4.1–5.6x (females). Crown bluntly angled to face (males) or sharply angled to face (females); anterior margin of head with numerous transverse carinae (males) or thin, foliaceous (females). Crown length 0.8x–1.0x (males) or 1.3x–2.2x (females) interocular width; texture shagreen. Ocelli absent or highly reduced; if present and reduced (males of H. bracteatus ), situated about midway between eye and crown apex. Frontoclypeus completely shagreen (males) or shagreen on basal 2/3 blending to smooth texture on anterior 1/3 (females). Antennal sockets near middle of eyes. Pronotum broad; lateral margin carinate; texture shagreen, with or without transverse furrows. Scutellum texture shagreen. Protrochanter with several fine hairs. Profemur row AV with 4–6 widely spaced short stout setae; intercalary row with 5–7 fine setae; AM1 present; AV1 present; dorsally with apical pair of macrosetae. Protibia macrosetae 1+4. Mesofemur row AV with numerous short stout setae. Mesotibia dorsal macrosetae 5+4. Metafemur apical macrosetae 2+2+1. Metatibia in dorsal view slightly bowed throughout (males) or straight and bent near apex (females). Metatarsomere I shorter than II+III combined; expanded toward apex or not; plantar surface with two rows of short stout setae; apex with row of 5–6 platellae flanked on each side by tapered seta. Males macropterous. Females subbrachypterous.

Color. General color whitish to yellowish. Dorsum with pattern of whitish stripes bordered by dark brown, with intervening area tawny to brownish; most well-developed on abdomen, less so on crown.

Male. Pygofer incised dorsally not beyond midlength; subovoid; without processes; with patch of ~15 macrosetae posterordorsally. Subgenital plates triangular; longer than wide; uniseriate laterally. Valve broadly triangular. Connective Y-shaped; stem much longer than anterior arms. Styles broadly bilobed at base; preapical lobe short, quadrate; apophysis digitate. Aedeagus curving dorsally and anteriorly; with pair of processes fused to base, reaching past midlength of shaft; articulated with connective. Phragma lightly sclerotized inside of pygofer apex as bulbous lobes with short, thick setae. Segment X membranous.

Female. Pygofer without or with few short setae ventrally. Ovipositor tip extending just beyond pygofer apex. Sternite VII width less than 2x greatest length. Sternite VIII not strongly sclerotized. First valvula relatively straight in lateral view; dorsal sculpturing pattern granulose, submarginal with distinct unsculptured band on dorsal margin; VSA present, distinctly delimited, sculpturing granulose, narrow. Second valvula width consistent throughout most of its length; apex lanceolate; with slight hump on dorsal side ~1/3 distance from base; without dorsal teeth. Gonoplac with 1–2 of short setae ventrally and at apex.

Distribution. United States (AZ, CO, NM, NV, UT), Mexico (Puebla)

Remarks. Two of the three species of Hecullus were included in the phylogenetic analyses here and were resolved with strong branch support as a monophyletic group. The genus was resolved as sister to a clade including Acrolithus and the Faltala group genera. In the United States, H. bracteatus is much more widespread and common than H. balli ( Fig. 47 ). More collecting effort is needed to assess the distribution of H. mexicanus . The discovery of H. mexicanus greatly expands the known distribution of the genus, previously known only from the southwestern US (AZ, NM, NV, UT, CO), and now extending to southern Mexico (Puebla).

Included species:

Figures

FIGUIRE 47. Distribution of Hecullus balli and H. bracteatus.