Ennya allkukiru Montalvo-Salazar, 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 : 272-275

Ennya allkukiru Montalvo-Salazar sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:820FB29D-B138-4B6E-B9DF-A7D109780F7D

( Figs. 2 , 3 , 10A–B )

Diagnosis. Pronotum with four lateral carinae on each side; dorsal process triangular acute, vertex directed backwards; posterior process not reaching apex of the third apical cell.

Description. Male holotype. Measurements (mm): Body length: 6.6; pronotum length 5.8; pronotum height: 2.2; distance between humeral angles: 2.9; head width: 2.3; head height: 9.2. Color. Mostly yellowish. Head yellow mottled with black spots, eyes pale yellow with black margins and discrete black mottles, ocelli pale yellow. Pronotum yellowish to brown; tips of humeral angles and dorsal process darker. Forewing membrane amber with smoky margins; sclerotized area pale brown; forewing veins pale brown to dark brown. Hind wing hyaline, apex smoky hyaline, veins black. Thoracic and abdominal sternites and coxae black. Legs pale yellow.

Sculpture. Pronotum and sclerotized areas of forewings densely and deeply punctate; head with sparse and small punctations. Head with long recumbent setae, clypeus densely setose; pronotum with short erect setae, central and lateral carinae flanked by long erect setae; sclerotized area of forewings with short, recumbent setae. Pronotum behind humeral angles with four longitudinal carinae on each side; metopidium without lateral carinae; dorsal process with five short vertical carinae. Thoracic and abdominal sternites, and legs densely pubescent.

Head. In frontal view: width (without eyes) approximately half distance between tips of humeral angles; eye width approximately one quarter vertex width; distance between ocelli subequal to distance between ocelli and eyes; vertex slightly concave at middle; clypeus diamond-shaped with width and height approximately half of vertex dimensions; suprantennal ledges large and straight. In ventral view, clypeus ventrally convex, maxillary plates flattened with straight margins; rostrum reaching posterior margin of metathoracic coxae.

Thorax. Pronotum in frontal view with metopidium rounded; humeral angles strongly produced and triangular, acute; dorsal process acute, triangular. In lateral view with metopodium convex; pronotum with elevated triangular dorsal process slightly convex anteriorly and slightly concave posteriorly, base wider than height, extended above postocular lobes, dorsal process and posterior process forming obtuse angle; apex of posterior process acute, reaching tip of second apical cell of forewing; central carina sharp and percurrent throughout. In dorsal view diamond shaped, posterior process elongate, lateral margins behind humeral angles weakly sinuous, converging to acute apex. Forewing with five apical cells, third apical cell one fourth length of first apical cell, and one discoidal cell subequal to length of third apical cell. Metathoracic femur longer and more slender than pro- and mesothracic 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 that of anterior and middle legs, and with plantar cucullate setae.

Abdomen. Aedeagus robust, cylindrical; in lateral view with basal margin truncate and dorsal margin deeply emarginate; posterior arm slightly widened toward apex in anterior and caudal view, 1.5 × as tall as anterior arm; corona with margin slightly emarginate, with numerous scale-like spines on anterior and dorsal region of posterior arm. Style curved latero-ventrally, apex recurved, acute.

Female and nymph unknown.

Remarks. This is the first known species of the genus Ennya in which the apex of the pronotum does not surpass the apex of the forewing third apical cell. The apex of the pronotum in Ennya usually reaches or slightly surpasses the apex of the forewing. Ennya allkukiru sp. nov. is most similar to E. conica ( Fairmaire, 1846) by the triangular acute dorsal process with transversal carinae and the concolorous median carina. However, the pronotum of E. allkukiru sp. nov. does not reach the forewing apex and the posterior margin of the dorsal process is not continuous with the posterior margin of the dorsal process, forming an obtuse angle. E. allkukiru sp. nov. differs from E. sobria ( Walker, 1851) and E. dorsalis ( Fairmaire, 1846) in having the median carina concolorous rather than black, and from E. scaramozzinoi Creão-Duarte & Sakakibara, 1994 in having the apex of the dorsal process not directed upwards but backwards. The acute triangular dorsal process of E. allkukiru sp. nov. differs from those of E. andina ( Sakakibara,1996a) , E. conspersa , E. pacifica ( Fairmaire, 1846) , E. bordoni Sakakibara 1996a , E. notata , E. nutans , E. lamariela sp. nov., E. ecuadoriensis , E. gibbera reinst. comb., and E. maculicornis ( Fairmaire, 1846) in being distinctly acute rather than blunt.

Distribution. Cordillera Oriental of the Ecuadorian Andes at 2,700 m elevation ( Fig. 10A ).

Material examined. Holotype female from ECUADOR: Tungurahua: Píllaro, Baquerizo Moreno :“ECUADOR, Tunguragua / Pillaro 2700m / Lat: -1.226222: Lon: -78.47481 / Montalvo, J. 01May2022 / Ex. Manual // Ennya allkukiru / Montalvo, J. / HOLOTYPE (in red label) // ZSFQ-i8212”.

Notes. Holotype minuten-mounted, with dissected abdomen placed in a vial with glycerin pinned with the specimen. The head and pronotum were accidentally separated from the body during genitalia dissection, then glued together using Shellac Gel.

Natural history. Ennya allkukiru sp. nov. inhabits the remnants of Oriental Montane Forest of the North Andes, in a zone fragmented by livestock pastures ( Fig. 9B ). The specimen was found solitary perched on the branch of an undetermined plant 170 cm above the ground. Species of Ennya are subsocial ( Godoy et al. 2006) but solitary adults can be found on a variety of plants, perhaps searching for acceptable hosts.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun formed by two terms from Kichwa, an official language, together with Spanish, of Ecuador spoken by several nationalities in the highlands and Amazonia, allku “dog” and kiru “tooth”, referring to the shape of the dorsal process of pronotum, which resembles a dog’s canine tooth.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Ennya allkukiru Montalvo-Salazar sp. nov. holotype male: A. lateral view, B. frontal view, C. dorsal view. Scale bars: 2 mm (A–C).

FIGURE 3. Ennya allkukiru Montalvo-Salazar 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. Scale bars: 0.1 mm (A, D) 0.05 mm (B–C).

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).