Ennya lamariela Montalvo-Salazar & López-García, 2024

Montalvo-Salazar, Jorge L. & López-García, Margarita M., 2024, Contributions on the treehopper genus Ennya Stål, 1866 (Hemiptera: Membracidae) with two new species from Ecuador, Zootaxa 5428 (2), pp. 269-289 : 280-283

Ennya lamariela Montalvo-Salazar & López-García sp. nov.

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( Figs. 7 , 8 , 10A, C–D )

Diagnosis. Metopidium in frontal view sub-quadrate; pronotum with three lateral carinae; dorsal process low and blunt, then sinuous but not produced and finally descending gradually to apex.

Description. Holotype male. Measurements (mm): Body length: 5.6; pronotum length 5.6; pronotum height: 1.8; distance between humeral angles: 2.8; head width: 2.2; head height: 9.4. Color. Mostly fuscous green. Head brown, eyes gray mottled with black spots, ocelli pale yellow. Pronotum pale green with brown spots; metopidium fuscous; humeral angles, dorsal process and posterior apex darker. Forewing membrane smoky with a black apical patch; sclerotized area brown; forewing veins brown to black. Hind wings hyaline, apex smoky hyaline, veins black. Thoracic and abdominal sternites, and legs pale yellow.

Sculpture. Head, pronotum, thoracic sternites and sclerotized areas of forewings densely and deeply punctate, and with sparse short setae, central carinae flanked by long erect setae. Pronotum reticulate with three longitudinal lateral carinae reaching the apex; metopidium with two lateral carinae; dorsal process with trasnversal carinae. Abdominal sternites and legs with dense pubescence.

Head. In frontal view: width (without eyes) approximately half of distance between tips of humeral angles; eye width approximately half vertex width; ocelli closer to coronal suture than to eyes; vertex slightly sinuated; clypeus diamond shaped with width approximately half vertex width; suprantennal ledges large and slightly concave. In ventral view clypeus ventrally convex, maxillary plates flattened with sinuate margins; rostrum reaching posterior margin of metathoracic coxae.

Thorax. Pronotum in frontal view with metopidium sub-quadrate, humeral angles blunt triangular produced; dorsal process triangular. In lateral view with metopodium convex; pronotum with low blunt dorsal process, base wider than height, emerging just behind humeral angles and directed upwards, then sinuate and finally descending gradually to acute apex, reaching tips of forewings; central carina sharp and percurrent throughout. In dorsal view diamond-shaped, posterior process elongate, lateral margins posterior to humeral angles weakly sinuous, converging to an acute apex. Forewings with five apical cells, third apical cell one fifth as long as first apical cell, one discoidal cell half length of first apical cell. Metathoracic femur longer and more slender than pro- and mesothoracic femora. Metathoracic tibia with cucullate setae in all three rows [row I irregular / II double / III double apically]. Metathoracic tibia longer than pro- and mesothoracic tibiae. First tarsomere of posterior legs longer than those of anterior and middle legs, with plantar cucullate setae ventrally.

Abdomen. Aedeagus robust, cylindrical; in lateral view with basal margin truncate and dorsal margin deeply emarginate; posterior arm slightly narrowed toward apex in anterior and caudal view, 2 x as tall as anterior arm; corona with margin rounded, with numerous scale-like dentae on anterior and dorsal region of posterior arm. Styles curved ventrolaterally, apically recurved, tips rounded.

Variation. Measurements. Male / Female (mm): Body length: 5.4–5.7/ 5.7–6,0; pronotum length 54–5.7 / 5.7– 6.0; pronotum height: 1.5–1.8 / 1.7–2.0; distance between humeral angles: 2.5–2.6 / 2.7–2.8; head width: 2.1–2.3 / 2.3–2.4; head height: 1.0 / 0.9–1.2. Females tend to be paler than males, mostly yellow-green, and some females pale are pink on the base of the metopidium and head. In some paratypes, the metopidium and anterior area of the dorsal process or just the dorsal process is darker than the rest of the pronotum. One male paratype is completely black mottled with brown spots. Transverse carinae may be absent or more than one. The pattern of the carinae of the dorsal process is different in each individual.

Female genitalia. Gonoplac with setae along ventral margin. First valvulae gradually narrowing toward a sharp apex. Second valvulae with parallel margins until the apical third where dorsal margin is abruptly widened; apex ending in a rounded point; dorsal margin minutely crenulate at apex.

Fifth-instar nymph description. Color. Body mostly brown greenish to black, head with two longitudinal darker stripes, pronotum with central carinae black. Overall body. Dense chalazal setae simple, needlelike; dorsal contour of abdomen in lateral view straight to slightly convex. A pair of small protuberances close to the posterior margin of head. Prothorax. Pre- and postmetopidum without scoli; pronotum with a short blunt dorsal process; posterior extension of pronotum surpassing posterior margin of metanotum, reaching to second segment of abdomen; in lateral view: metopidium concave, then straight and finally descending to posterior apex, pronotum trapezoidal; in dorsal view posterior process subtriangular, apex acute. Mesothorax. Scoli absent; forewing pad costal margin slightly concave; forewing pad chalazae sparse. Metathorax. Scoli absent. Legs. Chalazae on all surface of tibiae with enlarged chalazae on apex. Abdomen. Without scoli; chalazae subequal on all segments, lateral rows of enlarged chalazae absent; segment IX dorsal and ventral lengths equal.

Remarks. This is the first known species of the genus Ennya in which the shape of the metopidium in frontal view is sub-quadrate; the other species exhibit a rounded shape. Ennya lamariela sp. nov. is most similar to E. andina with the triangular dorsal process being short, blunt and directed upwards. However, the pronotum of E. lamariela sp. nov. has a second elevation not produced next to the dorsal process while, in E. andina , after the dorsal process the pronotum descends gradually to the apex. Ennya lamariela sp. nov. differs from E. pacifica , E. bordoni , E. notata , E. nutans , and E. gibbera reinst. comb. in having the anterior margin of the dorsal process not sub-perpendicular but oblique. The triangular dorsal process directed upwards in E. lamariela sp. nov. separates it from E. ecuadoriensis , E. conspersa , and E. maculicornis , which all have a dorsal process that is directed forward. The blunt dorsal process of E. lamariela sp. nov. distinguishes it from E. sobria , E. conica , E. dorsalis , E. scaramozzinoi , and E. allkukiru sp. nov., which all have an acute dorsal process. Lastly, E. lamariela sp. nov. differs from E. colombiana by the presence of a dorsal process, and from E. chrysura , E. funkhouseri , and E. chlorizans in having the dorsal process triangular instead of trapezoidal.

Distribution. Western foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes at 875 m ( Fig. 9A ).

Material examined. Holotype male from ECUADOR: Cotopaxi: Moraspungo , La Mariela. “ECUADOR, Cotopaxi / Moraspungo 875m / Lat: -1.0866111; Lon: -79.1893888 / Montalvo, J. & López-García, M.M. 26Feb2023 / Ex. Manual // Ennya lamariela / Montalvo, J. & López-García, M.M. / HOLOTYPE (in red label) // ZSFQ-i11333” . Paratypes. Seven females ZSFQ-i11333:11340 and three males ZSFQ-i11341:11343 with the same data as holotype . Additional material. Six nymphs at different stages with the same data as holotype ZSFQi11344:11349.

Notes. Holotype and paratypes minuten-mounted, in excellent state of preservation. Holotype and one female paratype with dissected abdomens placed in vials with glycerol pinned with specimens.

Natural history. Ennya lamariela sp. nov. inhabits the remnants of the mature forest of Occidental Foothill Forest of Northern Andes, in a zone extremely fragmented by banana ( Musa × paradisiaca L.) monoculture and livestock ( Figs. 9C–D ). Adult specimens and nymphs at different stages were found in an aggregation on the low branches at 150 cm above the ground of an undetermined species of Caesalpinioideae D.C. ( Fabaceae ). However, egg masses or scars were not found. The proportion of nymphs was higher than adults, as was females over males.

Species of the genus Ennya in the Andes are usually found around 2,000 m ( Flórez-V et al. 2015), so this record is one of the lowest known altitudes.

Etymology. This species is named after its type locality, La Mariela, a fragment of Western foothill forest in Moraspungo (Cotopaxi).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Ennya lamariela sp. nov. holotype male: A. frontal view, B. lateral view, C. dorsal view. Paratype melanic male: D. lateral view. Last-instar nymph: E. frontal view, F. lateral view. Scale bars: 1 mm (A, E–F) 2 mm (B–D).

FIGURE 8. Ennya lamariela sp. nov. Holotype male: A. aedeagus in lateral view, B. apex of aedeagus in anterior view, C. apex of aedeagus in posterior view, D. styles in dorsal view. Paratype female: E. gonoplac in lateral view, F. second valvulae in lateral view, G. first valvulae in lateral view. Scale bars: 0.1 mm (A, D–E) 0.05 mm (B–C) 0.2 mm (E–G).

FIGURE 9. Creonus fasciata (Oxygonia fasciata syntype): A. frontal view, B. lateral view, C. labels. Centronodus gounellei (Heliria gounellei syntype): D. frontal view, E. lateral view, F. labels. Scale bars: 1 mm (A–B) 2 mm (D–E). Photos by Laurent Fauvre © 2023 Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle.

FIGURE 10. A. Locality records for the species of Ennya with known distribution in Ecuador (Red star: E. lamariela, Yellow star: E. allkukiru, Black point: E. chlorizans, Pink point: E. funkhouseri, Blue point: E. chrysura, Orange point: E. sobria, Gray point: E. scaromizzonoi), B. Forest patch in Pillaro, C–D. La Mariela forest in Moraspungo (Photo by David Brito).