Paraphenice aurea ( Distant, 1917 )

Löcker, Holger, Löcker, Birgit & Holzinger, Werner E., 2009, Revision of the Derbidae of Seychelles Islands (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha), Zootaxa 2221, pp. 1-26 : 12

Paraphenice aurea ( Distant, 1917)

( Figs 6 , 14 )

Fescennia aurea Distant, 1917: 288 , Plate 51, Fig. 10 . Paraphenice aurea (Distant) , Muir 1924: 472.

Types. Lectotype, 3 (examined), SEYCHELLES, Mahé: pinned, labelled “ Mahe ’08-09’, Seychelles Exp., (handwritten) 120, (round label with red border) Type, H. T., (handwritten) Fescennia aurea Type Dist., (handwritten) Spec. figd., Seychelle Islands, Percy Sladen Trust Expedition, 1913-170 (BMNH).

Remarks. Another specimen from the type series that has not been examined is located in the collection at Cambridge. The original description does not mention the designation of a holotype, therefore these specimens are regarded as syntypes. The specimen from Mahé labelled Type, H. T., is hereby designated as lectotype to provide a diagnostic reference for the species.

Other material examined. SEYCHELLES, Curieuse: 1 Ƥ, Southern part, lowland glacis, 4°17'10''S, 55°43'35''E, 5–50m, 29.xi.2006, [23-1] (W. Holzinger & B. Komposch) ( OEKO). Mahé-N: 3 Ƥ, Mare aux Cochons, near swamp, 4°38’S, 55°25’E, 350m, 12.xii.2006, [34-1, S1-955 - S1-957] (W. Holzinger & B. Komposch) ( OEKO); 1 3 near (E) Tea plantation, 2 km E Port Glaud, 4°39'42,3''S, 55°26'20,4''E, 350–450m, 10.xi.2006, [6-2] (W. Holzinger & B. Komposch) ( OEKO). Silhouette: 1 3, glacis above Anse Lascars, 4°29'26,6''S, 55°15'5,71''E, ~ 60m, 24.xi.2006, [19-1] (W. Holzinger & B. Komposch) ( OEKO).

Remarks. Specimens were collected from Deckenia nobilis , Pandanus sechellarum Balf. f. and Pandanus multispicatus Balf. f.

Colour. Body including lateral carinae of vertex and frons yellow. Apex of rostrum blackish. Forewing yellow with some whitish areas and with one black spot at the apex of clavus, sometimes with a longitudinal brown streak along entire wing, veins concolorous with cells.

Morphology. Body length: male 6.8–7.2 mm, female 7.8–7.9 mm.

Head: Vertex 0.7–0.8 times as long as wide. Frons 3.3 times longer than wide.

Thorax: Forewing 4.8–4.9 times longer than wide (at level of apex of clavus). Hind leg: 1st tarsomere with 6–7 apical teeth.

Male genitalia: Anal tube very long, apex bilobate ( Figs 14 A–B); pygofer laterally with a pointed process, ventromedian process of pygofer long, bifurcate, with a long, straight process on the left and a strongly curved, partially serrate process on the right side ( Fig. 14 C). Aedeagus with five apical spines, very similar to the aedeagus of P. b i m a c u l a t a (see below).

Diagnosis. This species can be differentiated from P. b i m a c u l a t a by the colouration of the lateral carinae of the vertex (yellowish in P. aurea , blackish in P. bimaculata ), by the absence of a black spot near the apex of the forewing, by the different shape of the ventromedian process of the male pygofer and the apical lobes of the male anal tube.

Distribution. Curieuse, Mahé, Silhouette.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Paraphenice aurea: A habitus lateral; B habitus dorsal; C, D head; E forewing. Scalebar 1 mm applies to figures A – C, E.

FIGURE 10. Proutista moesta: A – D habitus; E head; F body lateral. Scalebar 1 mm applies to figures B – D.

FIGURE 14. Paraphenice aurea: A, B anal tube; C ventromedian process of pygofer.