Mileewa houhensis Yang, Meng & He

Yang, Mao-Fa, Meng, Ze-Hong, He, Qing & Dietrich, C. H., 2014, Illustrated checklist of mileewine leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Mileewinae) of China, with descriptions of four new species, Zootaxa 3881 (2), pp. 175-189 : 181-183

Mileewa houhensis Yang, Meng & He , sp. nov.

( Figs 23 , 64–76 )

Length of males 5.5–6.3 mm, females 5.8–6.4 mm.

Coloration. Crown pale, with large dark spots apically, longitudinal dark stripe medially and transverse dark stripe at basal margin; ocelli reddish-brown to dark brown; eyes mostly dark brown, with inner margin or anterior half pale. Pronotum, mesonotum, and scutellum mostly dark; pronotum with lateral margin pale, and scutellum apex pale in some specimens. Forewing dark brown, usually with base of costal margin and margins of clavus pale. Face pale with dark base. Venter of thorax pale; legs pale with fore tibiae and tarsi, mid tarsi, and apex of hind tarsi dark or dark brown. Male abdominal venter pale with pygofer and subgenital plate dark brown; female abdominal sternites dark with narrow pale posterior margins, several specimens with abdominal venter pale. Head, thorax and basal half of forewing with many tiny, round pale spots in dark areas.

External features. Head anterior margin rounded in dorsal view, median length of crown equal to interocular width; coronal suture almost half median length of crown; crown with median portion slightly transversely concave, between ocellus and eye concave; ocelli located on or slightly in front of line between anterior eye angles, each ocellus closer to median line of crown than to adjacent eye; frontal suture extending onto crown and attaining ocelli. Face with frontoclypeus convex, muscle impressions present, transclypeal suture complete. Pronotum broader than head, posterior margin slightly concave medially. Scutellum flattened.

Male genitalia. Pygofer with dorsal and ventral margins nearly straight, posterior margin obliquely truncate; ventral margin with small setae; ventral process short, apex acute and curved dorsally. Subgenital plate extending posteriorly slightly beyond pygofer apex, surface with uniseriate macrosetae on inner margin, apical half with long or short microsetae. Aedeagus with pair of branched dorsal processes near middle of shaft; in dorsal view inflated medially, apex bifid. Connective Y-shaped. Style slender, with small setae near apical one-third, with elongate preapical tooth, apex acute.

Female genitalia. Sternite VII in ventral view slightly produced posteriorly with conically rounded posterior margin. Valvulae I in lateral view moderately broad throughout most of length, apex acute; with columns of dorsal sculpture oriented posteroventrad, dorsal sculpturing imbricate, ventral area with strigate sculpturing at apex. Valvulae II in lateral view with similar shape as in valvulae I, dorsal margin finely serrate in apical half beyond a dorsal prominence, serrations extending to ventral margin near apex.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the type locality.

Material examined. Holotype, male, China, Hubei Province, Wufeng, Houhe, 28 July 2010, coll. Ni Junqiang & Yu Xiao-fei. Paratypes: 11 males, 14 females, same data as holotype; 6 males, 6 females, China, Hubei Province, Wufeng, Houhe, 21–23 July 2013, coll. Li Hu.

Remarks. This new species is readily distinguished from other species of the genus by its distinctive markings on the crown, the numerous pale spots on dark areas of the crown, thoracic dorsum and basal half of the forewing, and the aedeagus with a pair of branched dorsal processes near the middle of the shaft.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 26. Dorsal habitus of mileewine leafhoppers of China. 1, Processina dashahensis. 2, P. taiwanana. 3, Ujna harpa. 4, U. liangae sp. nov. 5, U. maolanana. 6, U. nigrimaculata. 7, U. puerana. 8, Mileewa alara. 9, M. albovittata. 10, M. amplimacula. 11, M. anchora. 12, M. branchiuma. 13, M. choui. 14, M. coeomacula. 15, M. decemspina. 16, M. disclada. 17, M. dorsimaculata. 18, M. exsertocaputa. 19, M. fanjingana. 20, M. fusciovittata. 21, M. gaoligongana. 22, M. holomacula. 23, M. houhensis sp. nov. 24, M. huapingana. 25, M. jianzhuensis. 26, M. lackstripa. 2 – 8, 10 – 14, 16, 19, 21 – 26 based on holotypes; 15, 18, 20 based on paratypes. Scale bars = 1.0 millimeters.

FIGURES 64 – 72. Mileewa houhensis Yang, Meng & He, sp. nov. 64, head and thorax, dorsal view. 65, body, lateral view. 66, face. 67 – 71, male genitalia. 67, pygofer, lateral view. 68, subgenital plate, ventral view. 69, aedeagus, lateral view. 70, aedeagus, ventral view. 71, connective and style, dorsal view. 72, female sternite VII.

FIGURES 73 – 76. Mileewa houhensis Yang, Meng & He, sp. nov., female genitalia. 73 – 74, valvula I. 73, general lateral view and valvifer I. 74, apical portion. 75 – 76, valvulae II. 75, general lateral view. 76, detail of posterior half. Scale bars = 0.3 millimeters in 73 and 75, 0.1 millimeters in 74 and 76.