Osbornellus rarus DeLong

Domínguez, Edwin & Godoy, Carolina, 2010, Taxonomic review of the genus Osbornellus Ball (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) in Central America 2702, Zootaxa 2702, pp. 1-106 : 97-100

Osbornellus rarus DeLong

( Figs. 61a–61e)

Osbornellus rarus DeLong 1941b: 268 , Linnavuori 1959: 213, Metcalf 1967: 2192. Redescription. Length: 4.7–5.3 mm. Member of the O. rarus group ( Fig. 1b). Vertex bluntly angulate, median length about equal to distance between eyes at posterior margin. General color yellow or pale yellow. Pale apical spot with slender, curved, pale lateral dashes not reaching ocelli. Broadly triangular pale spot behind apex extending to apical dot. Brown spot behind each ocellus with elongate pale dot on inner margin almost reaching triangular spot behind apex. Narrow transverse brown stripe at apex of coronal suture. White mark narrow, margined with brown. Narrow white line along inner margins of eyes. Sometimes with two weak gray lines on anterior part of vertex and between the ocelli, with transverse red band behind the ocelli. Two weak gray marks on each side of the median part of the vertex. Rest of vertex yellow, sometimes darker. Pronotum pale, mottled yellow-brownish with band of irregular light and dark markings along anterior margin. Scutellum white, slightly yellowish at center, with large brown spots in basal angles or light yellow with no distinct markings. Anterior wing transparent, light yellow, with many white spots, few oblong brown patches; veins brown; usually with brown spots along costa and commissural line.

Male genitalia: Pygofer about 1.5 times as long as greatest width; apical portion short, truncate, almost square; macrosetae very long, distributed along apical half ( Fig. 61a). Valve ovate. Plates long, wide at base, apex pointed, fold in lateral margin, setae plumose ( Fig. 61b). Style with large basal portion, apophysis slightly curved, rugose and truncate ( Fig. 61c). Aedeagus in ventral view wide at base and straight, expanded slightly near middle then narrowed slightly; shaft narrow, apex rounded, slightly shorter than ventral processes; with prominent lateral extension of dorsal projection ( Fig. 61d). Ventral processes arising at onethird length of aedeagus, very narrow, very close to each other from base to more or less midlength, then curved outward and inward, apices pointed. In lateral view shaft wide, apex narrowed at pointed tip, longer than ventral processes, curved dorsad; dorsal projectionlong, slender, curved slightly caudad, apex rounded. Gonopore subapical. Ventral processes slightly separated from shaft, arising near base of stem, narrow, following curve of stem, ending below pointed tips ( Fig. 61e).

Diagnosis. Very similar to O. corcovado , but in ventral view the ventral processes of O. rarus do not cross, whereas in O. corcovados the apices of the ventral processes cross one another.

Distribution. Known from Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama; 490–1550 m.

Material examined: COSTA RICA: Alajuela: 1 male, 1 female, Finca San Gabriel , 600m, V-1989, GNP Biodiv. Survey ( INBio) ; 1 female, same locality and collector, VI-1989 ( INBio) ; 1 female, same locality and collector, V-1990 ( INBio) . Heredia: 1 male, San Joaquín de Flores, 0.2 Km al N de Iglesia, 1054m, 04-IV-04- V-1995, C. Víquez, Malaise trap ( INBio) . Guanacaste: 1 female, Estación Cacao , 1000-1400m, IX-1989, R. Blanco & C. Chaves ( INBio) ; 1 male, Rancho Montezuma, 3 Km SE Río Naranjo , 490 m, 16-IX-1994, R.G. Allen, Malaise ( INBio) . Puntarenas: 1 female, Parque Nacional Amistad, Estación Las Mellizas, Finca Cafrosa , 1300m, IV-1989, M. Ramirez & G. Mora ( INBio) ; 1 female, same locality and collector, 20-VIII-4- IX-1989 ( INBio) ; 1 male, same locality and collector, V-1990 ( INBio) ; 1 male, Mellizas Sabalito, Frontera con Panama , 700m SE de Mellizas. 1400–1500m, 20-26-X-1996, E. Navarro ( INBio) ; 1 female, Camino a Tablas, 200m E de los Portones a Cotoncito , 1550m, 8-V-1997, A. Picado ( INBio) ; 1 female, Sendero El Ripario a 3 Km NE de progreso, 1300m, 6-9-IV-1997, E. Navarro ( INBio) . San José: 2 female, 5 km W. Escazú, 2-III-1993, Nielson & Mora ( MZCR) ; 3 male, Desamparados, San Antonio , 1170m, 1-III-1993, M. Nielson, A. M. Mora ( MZCR) . HONDURAS: Francisco Morazán: 1 male, El Zamorano, 1970, #1, George F. Freytag ( HIC) . NICARAGUA: Jinotega: 3 specimens, Peñas Blancas , 13°17 N - 85°38 W, 1300 m, 25-VII- 97, J.M. Maes & B. Hernández ( SEAN) . 50 km E. Matagalpa: 4 specimens, El Coyolar, 800 m, 15-V-91, CDC light trap 6 volts, S. Hue ( SEAN) ; 2 specimens, same locality, 20-XI-91, en malezas en cafetal, J.M. Maes, S. Hue & X. Palacios ( SEAN) .