Pseudomachaerota Melichar.

Andrew Hamilton, K. G., 2014, The old-world Zygonini tr. nov. (Hemiptera, Cercopoidea, Clastopteridae), with new taxa from the related Machaerotinae, Zootaxa 3768 (4), pp. 437-459 : 449-450

Pseudomachaerota Melichar.

Type-species by monotypy: P. olivacea Melichar, 1915 .

Diagnosis. Crown produced, two-thirds as long as wide, tylus much longer on midline than crown, its posterior boundary marked by weak sutures extending forward and inward until closer together than ocelli, then transversely joined; antenna with postpedicel withdrawn into tip of pedicel, bearing arista on dorsal edge, below this a flattened, globular basiconic sensillum, and behind the latter a cluster of several coeloconic sensilla ( Fig. 26 C); rostrum extending to hind coxae; head narrower (0.75) than pronotum, lateral margin of pronotum slightly shorter than eye, about half as long (0.4 × in male, 0.6 × in female) as interocular distance; antennal ledge not prominent, produced vertically before antennal bases; rostrum extending to base of hind coxae; pronotum coarsely rugose; disc of scutellum depressed. Tegmina finely pitted, semihyaline; tegminal veins not prominent, irregular, forming 5–7 small costal cells, 2 anteapical and 4–6 apical cells ( Melichar 1915, left wing; Maa 1962, fig. 3, right wing). Hind wing with 3–5 hooks on costal margin. Hind femur short and robust; 2nd tarsomere shorter than apical tarsomere and almost half length of basitarsomere; pectens of hind tibia with 8–11 black-tipped spines; those of basitarsomere with 8–9 such spines, of 2nd tarsomere with 7–8 spines. Male pygofer sclerotized only on dorsal surface, ventrolateral process small, ovoid, dorsal process prominent, curved dorsad, unarticulated ( Fig. 7 C); basal segment of anal tube short and ringlike with long basal extensions; paraprocts nearly as long as 11th segment excluding epiproct; style longer than pygofer, with ventral channel and short, bilobate tip; theca heavily sclerotized, tubular, in lateral aspect with short, ventral lobe and prominent pointed process on anterior surface just before gonopore, the latter fringed with serrate flange ( Fig. 7 C), in posterior aspect narrowed just before enlarged base, parallelmargined almost to tip ( Fig. 7 D). Ovipositor with 2nd valvulae 1.2 mm long, slender and weakly curved, crested on apical quarter, tip pointed ( Fig. 17G ).

Included species: 2 species, the type-species which is known from a single female from Mt. d'Ambre, Madagascar, Dezember, No. 4926 in MMOE, and one other distinctive Madagascarene species known only from a single male (described below). An additional two species described from mainland Africa ( Maa 1962, Linnavuori 1973) are here transferred to Hemizygon gen.nov., which according to barcode (CO1) data is equally distantly related to Ambonga (20% divergence) and to Pseudomachaerota (21% divergence).

Figures

FIGURES 18 – 32. Antennae of Clastopteridae: Clastopterinae (18 – 20) and Machaerotinae: Hindolini (21 – 23), Machaerotini (24 – 25) and Zygonini (26 – 32, boxed set). A, lateral aspect of head; B, detail of antennal and antenna ledge; C, tip of antenna, showing postpedicel; D, detail of postpedicel showing detail of pits, revealing 4 enclosed coeloconic sensilla in communal pits. 18, Clastoptera; 19, Sepullia; 20, Grellaphia; 21, Chaetophyes; 22, Hindola; 23, Allox; 24, Blastocaena; 25, Irridiculum; 26, Pseudomachaerota cucullata; 27, Zygon, with detail showing basiconic sensilla (b) and coeloconic sensilla (c) of various types (shown in greater detail in Fig. 38); 28, Ambonga lanceolata (Zygonini); 29, Ambonga apicenotata syntype with insert showing sensilla at base of arista; 30, Pseudoclastoptera irrubesco sp. nov., holotype; 31 – 32, Pseudoclastoptera invidia sp. nov., male holotype (32) and unassociated female (31).

FIGURES 5 – 9. Zygonini, dorsolateral aspect (A); male subgenital plates (B), ventral aspect; (C), genital capsule and theca (with style in 7 – 9), lateral aspect; (D), theca, caudal aspect; (E) habitus, dorsal aspect. 5, Pseudoclastoptera irrubesco (style as in Pseudomachaerota); 6, Pseudomachaerota olivacea, female holotype; 7, Pseudomachaerota cucullata; 8, Hemizygon saturnus; 9, Zygon desegregatum. Scale line for habitus drawings: 1 mm.

FIGURES 17 A – R. Ovipositor shapes in 17 genera and subgenera of Clastopteridae: Zygonini (A, G – J, Q), Machaerotinae (B – D, K, R) and Clastopterinae (E, F, L – Q). A, Zygon desegregatum, paratype; B, Irridiculum deformatum, holotype; C, Allox transfigurata, paratype; D, Taiorhina geisha Schumacher; E, Grellaphia costalis Schmidt; F, Beesoniella sylvestris Lallemand; G, Pseudomachaerota olivacea, holotype; H, Ambonga lanceolata; J, Hemizygon saturnus (as in Ambonga apicenotata); K. Machaeropsis dramatica; L, Tremapterus (Nyanja) bimaculata Synave, holotype; M, Tremapterus (Abbalomba) typica Distant; N, Tremapterus (Patriziana) janus Linnavuori; O, Tremapterus (s. s.) rufus (Thunberg); P, Sepullia fuscolimbata Lallemand; Q, Pseudoclastoptera irrubesco; R, Machaerota sp. Scale line: 1 mm.