Macropsis illota ( Horvath, 1899 )

Li, Hu, Dai, Ren-Huai, Li, Zi-Zhong & Yu, Dmitri, 2012, Taxonomic study of Chinese species of the genus Macropsis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Macropsinae): new species, new records, synonymy and replacement name, Zootaxa 3420, pp. 41-62 : 51

Macropsis illota ( Horvath, 1899)

Figs. 16–18, 77–84

Description. Body from yellowish brown to brown (Figs. 16–18). Impressions between striae on pronotum darker than surrounding area. Scutellum yellowish, usually with black pattern. Forewings brown, veins of same tinge as a membrane or darker. Legs brown. Females usually somewhat lighter than males.

2nd tergal apodemes in male as a rule of longer than their width at base, with wide round or angular tips. 2nd sternal apodemes triangular, shape of tips varies from blunt to sharpened (Fig. 78).

Pygofer broad, caudal margin concave. Pygofer processes slender, straight or slightly sinuated (Fig. 77). Aedeagus in side view rather narrow, with more or less straight distal half of shaft, gonopore apical, oval (Figs. 79–80). Styles slender, with rounded tips (Fig. 81). Connective stout, with a finger-like protrusion in middle, both lateral arms twisted to dorsum (Figs. 82–83).

7th sternite in female nib-shaped, tapering towards end, in midline about 2.5 times as long as 6th one, with a deep notch on posterior margin. 2nd valvulae with two additional teeth each. Quite often additional teeth on each valvula united into one broad indistinct tooth (Fig. 84).

Body length (including tegmina): 3, 3.5–3.8 mm; Ƥ, 4.0–4.2 mm.

Host. Elms ( Ulmus spp .; among other species, U. pumila L.).

Material examined. 3 3, 13 Ƥ, China: Ningxia province, Luoshan, 1650 m above sea level, 30. VII. 2008, collected by Song Qiongzhang.

Distribution. China: Ningxia, prov. (new record), Korea, Southern part of the Russian Far East and Transbaikalia, Mongolia, Japan. Recently was introduced to European Russia and Ukraine and presently is common on ornamental trees of U. pumila in the southern half of the region.

Remark. M. illota is similar to M. mendax (Fieber, 1868) , but can be distinguished from latter by the shape of second tergal apodems, and in female individual of M. mendax having green colour variation which is nonexistent in M. illota . Illustrated descriptions and oscillograms of male calling signals of this species are given in Tishechkin (1999, 2002a).