Balocha Distant, 1964

VIRAKTAMATH, C. A. & YESHWANTH, H. M., 2024, Arboreal eurymeline leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Eurymelinae) of the Indian subcontinent with description of new genera and eight new species, Zootaxa 5462 (1), pp. 1-125 : 11-12

Genus Balocha Distant

Balocha Distant 1908: 189 ; Maldonado-Capriles 1961: 300–301. Type species: Balocha tricolor Distant , by original designation.

Idiocerinus Baker : 341. Type species: Idiocerinus melichari Baker , by original designation. Synonymised by Maldonado-Capriles 1961: 300.

Diagnosis. Forewing third apical cell petiolate and with black spot within. Male segment X ventrally produced. Pygofer without processes. Style distally forked with inner fork marginally serrated. Aedeagus with preatrium elongate, longer than shaft, dorsal apodeme absent, shaft bulbous in dorsal view, with anterior and posterior pair of ventrally directed short prong-like paired process, gonopore apical. Anal collar process lamellate, pustulate. Meta femoral distal macrosetae 2+0, Metatibial macrosetal row AD 4–5, PD 11–12 and AV 14–15; metabasitarsomere distal transverse row with 4 platellae flanked by only one stout seta on one side ( Fig. 1D ). Female valvula I stout and short, tapered gradually in distal 0.2 length, dorsal sculpture strigate, strigae oblique extended to dorsal margin and occupying distal 0.6 length. Valvula II short, stout, slightly curved in distal 0.3 and distally narrowed, toothed area occupying almost distal half length, teeth small and close together.

Remarks. Distant (1908) established this genus for Balocha tricolor Distant from Myanmar. Xue et al. (2020) placed the genus in the tribe Balocerini . Maldonado-Capriles (1961) adequately redescribed the genus and also described Balocha pallida Maldonado-Capriles from Lahore, Pakistan. Kameswara Rao & Ramakrishnan (1979) and Kameswara Rao et al. (1979) established three new species of the genus, namely B. anufrievi Kameswara Rao, Ramakrishnan (1979) , B. maldonadoi Kameswara Ro & Ramakrishnan (1979) , and B. bifurcata Kameswara Rao, Ramakrishnan & Ghai (1979) from Delhi and Pusa, Bihar. Examination of the types of these species showed that they are all conspecific with the Sri Lankan species Balocha astuta (Melichar) previously recorded from south India by Viraktamath (1976). At present, the genus is represented by four species including one new species described below from Western Ghats in Karnataka. Species of Balocha from the Indian subcontinent (where the males are known), have the distal half of the subgenital plates much less expanded compared to those found in the Oriental region.

Key to species of Balocha Distant from the Indian subcontinent

1. Pronotum with orange red transverse stripe, forewing with longitudinal orange red stripes; some forewing veins red (Figs 4F,G); male antenna with apical disc ( Fig. 4I ) ( Myanmar)....................................... B. tricolor Distant

- Pronotum and forewing differently colored ( Figs 1A , 6A , 7A ); male antennae without apical disc..................... 2

2. Forewing vein M dark brown, corium between vein M and claval suture often fuscous ( Fig. 6A–D ).... B. fuscolinea sp. nov.

- Forewing vein M concolorous with wing membrane, corium between vein M and claval suture not fuscous ( Fig. 1A )….....3

3. Uniformly green or orange yellow; posterior margin of male pygofer smoothly curved ( Fig. 1E )....... .. B astuta (Melichar)

- Uniformly yellowish ( Figs 7A,B,E,F ); male pygofer in lateral view with a basal hook-like projection ( Maldonado-Capriles 1961: Fig. 9 ).................................................................. B. pallida Maldonado-Capriles

Figures

FIGURES 1A–H. Balocha astuta (Melichar), Bengaluru population. A, habitus, dorsal view; B, habitus, lateral view; C, face; D, metabasitarsomere, ventral view; E, male genital capsule, lateral view; F, style, lateral view; G, aedeagus lateral view, H, aedeagal shaft posterior view.

FIGURES 4A–J. Balocha astuta (Melichar) aedeagi of males from different places in India (A–E) and lectotype male, Balocha tricolor Distant (F–J). A, Bengaluru (a—anterior lobe; b—posterior process); B, New Delhi, JNU; C, Gujarat; D, Ludhiana; E, Pinjore. B. tricolor lectotype: F–G, habitus, dorsal and lateral views; H, ventral view of male abdomen showing damaged male genitalia; I, face; J, label data.

FIGURES 6A–L. Balocha fuscolinea sp. nov.: A–B, holotype male, dorsal and lateral view; C–D, female dorsal and lateral views; E, face, male; F, male pygofer, lateral view; G, subgenital plates, style and aedeagus, lateral view; H, pygofer, posterior view; I–J, styles, connective and aedeagus, dorsal and ventral views; K, style and aedeagus, lateral view, L, aedeagal shaft, lateral view.

FIGURES 7A–H. Balocha pallida Maldonado-Capriles, paratypes: A–B, male, dorsal and lateral views; C, face; D, label data; E–F, female, dorsal and lateral views G, female terminal abdominal segments, ventral view; H, label data.

FIGURES 9A–H. Amritodus brevis Viraktamath, holotype male: A–B, dorsal and lateral views; C, face; D, label data; E, metabasitarsomere, ventral view; F, male genital capsule, lateral view; G, style, connective and aedeagus, lateral view; H, styles, connective and aedeagus, dorsal view.