Austroauridius, Dietrich, 2021

Dietrich, Christopher H., 2021, New species of Mayawa Fletcher and description of a related new Australian leafhopper genus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Paralimnini), Zootaxa 4933 (4), pp. 575-585 : 576-577

Austroauridius gen. nov.

( Figure 1 )

Type species: A. iwaii sp. nov., by monotypy.

Diagnosis. This genus may be distinguished from all other Paralimnini by the following combination of traits: head in dorsal view angulately produced and wider than pronotum; forewing outer anteapical cell very small; male pygofer without teeth or processes, with scattered macrosetae; anal tube well sclerotized; subgenital plate lateral margin convex, macrosetae uniseriate; connective loop-shaped without stem; style apex enlarged with prominent teeth; aedeagus small, without processes.

Description. Medium-sized, slender, moderately depressed paralimnines with macropterous forewings. Coloration nearly uniformly bright yellow-orange with pair of very indistinct longitudinal orange bands extended across crown and pronotum. Head in dorsal view ( Fig. 1A ) with anterior margin angulately produced, longer medially than next to eye, wider than pronotum; crown width between eyes less than median length and eye width, texture glabrous except shagreen near anterior margin; face ( Fig. 1C ) with frontoclypeus relatively narrow, lateral frontal sutures extended laterad of ocelli, ocelli small, separated from adjacent eye by one ocellar diameter; antenna longer than width of head; mesal margin of eye notched adjacent to antennal base; lorum small, narrower than anteclypeus, well separated from ventral margin of face; anteclypeus weakly convex, slightly tapered from base to apex. Forewing ( Figs 1 A-B) with three closed anteapical cells; outer anteapical cell very small, petiolate, not extended to costal margin (rarely absent); clavus with crossvein extended from PCu to claval suture. Front femur with AM1 seta on ventral margin; IC row with several fine setae; AV with few very short, widely spaced setae in basal half; tibia rows AD and PD with 1 and 4 macrosetae, respectively. Hind femur macrosetal formula 2+2+1, tibia rows PD, AD and AV with 9, 9, and 8 long macrosetae, respectively; PD with one short seta between respective macrosetae; AD with 1–4 very short setae between respective macrosetae; tarsomere I pecten with 4 platellae, mesal seta platelliform.

Male pygofer ( Fig. 1E ) without basal apodemes; basolateral cleft obsolete; basal tergite well sclerotized; lobe moderately elongate, bluntly angulate distally, with numerous macrosetae, without teeth or processes. Segment X elongate and slender, unsclerotized, without processes. Valve ( Fig. 1F ) parabolically produced posteriorly. Subgenital plate ( Fig. 1H ) longer than basal width, lateral margin abruptly tapered beyond midlength to pointed apex, macrosetae sparse, uniseriate; few long, fine setae present basolaterally and at apex. Connective ( Fig. 1H ) loop-shaped, more than twice as long as wide. Style ( Fig. 1H ) with median anterior lobe relatively short, preapical lobe indistinct, apophysis enlarged denticulate, apex with prominent teeth. Aedeagus simple ( Figs 1 G–H), small, with atrium somewhat enlarged, shaft very short, tubular, arising from dorsal part of atrium, apex bifid, gonopore apical.

Female pygofer profusely macrosetose; ovipositor extended slightly beyond pygofer; gonoplacs ( Fig. 1J ) densely microtrichiose but without setae; first valvula ( Figs 1 K–L) moderately broad, evenly tapered distally, dorsal sculpture squamiform, merging with ventral sculpture near apex; second valvulae ( Figs 1 M–N) moderately broad, evenly tapered distally, dorsal margin finely and irregularly serrate in distal two thirds.

Etymology. The genus name, a masculine noun, refers to the superficial similarity of the type species to species of the North American paralimnine genus Auridius .

Notes. This genus will run to Mendrausus Ribaut in Emeljanov’s (1999) key to Asian Paralimnini . It differs from this genus in having the forewing fully developed, the outer anteapical cell small and well separated from the costal margin, male segment X slender and unsclerotized, the pygofer elongate, and the aedeagus with the shaft very short and arising from the dorsal part of the atrium. The new genus is similar to another endemic Australian paralimnine genus, Mayawa , in external appearance, especially the elongate forewing with reduced outer anteapical cell and lack of dark pigment outlining the veins; as well as in the structure of the genital capsule, connective and style. Mayawa differs in its larger size and elongate aedeagus with two pairs of distal processes.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Austroauridius iwaii sp. nov. A–H, male holotype. A–B, lateral and dorsal habitus; C, head and anterior part of thorax, anteroventral view; D, base of abdomen, ventral view; E–F, genital capsule, lateral and ventral view; G–H, genitalia and subgenital plate, lateral and ventral view. I–N, paratype female: I, abdominal sternite VII; J, gonoplacs; K, first valvula; L, detail of same; M, second valvulae; N, detail of same. Scale bar = 1 mm.