Tetartostylini Wagner, 1951

Zahniser, James N. & Dietrich, Chris H., 2013, A review of the tribes of Deltocephalinae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 45, pp. 1-211 : 172-174

Tetartostylini Wagner, 1951

Fig. 55

Type genus: Tetartostylus Wagner, 1951 .

Diagnosis

Tetartostylini are medium sized, somewhat elongate, straw colored to greenish leafhoppers. They can be identified by the tapering or parallel-sided clypellus, subgenital plates fused to valve and with apices modified into sharp spines, connective with anterior arms closely appressed anteriorly, connective articulated with a pair of long processes, connective articulated with aedeagus, female sternite VII long, ovate or subovate.

Description

HEAD. Head subequal to or wider than pronotum. Discal portion of crown shagreen. Anterior margin of head shagreen. Frontoclypeus not tumid, texture shagreen. Clypellus parallel-sided or tapering apically; apex following or slightly surpassing normal curve of gena. Lorum distinctly narrower than clypellus near base. Antennal bases near middle or posteroventral (lower) corners of eyes. Antennae short, less than 1.5 x width of head. Gena obtusely incised laterally; with fine erect seta beside laterofrontal suture. Antennal ledges absent. Ocelli present; close to eyes; on anterior margin of head.

THORAX. Pronotum lateral margin not carinate; lateral margin shorter than basal width of eye.

WINGS. Forewing macropterous; appendix restricted to anal margin; with 2 or 3 anteapical cells; veins not raised; without reflexed costal veins; A1-A2 crossvein absent; apical venation not highly reticulate.

LEGS. Profemur with AM1 seta only; intercalary row reduced or absent; row AV with thin, hair-like setae or without setae. Protibia dorsal surface rounded, convex. Metafemur apex macrosetae 2+2+1. Metatarsomere I not expanded apically; plantar setae simple, tapered.

MALE GENITALIA. Valve articulated with pygofer; lateral margin short, articulating with pygofer at a point. Pygofer basolateral membranous cleft present; macrosetae well differentiated into several rows. Subgenital plates free from each other, fused to valve; produced apically into modified spines; macrosetae uniseriate laterally. Style broadly bilobed basally; median anterior lobe pronounced. Basal processes of the aedeagus/connective present, articulated with connective. Aedeagus with single shaft and gonopore. Connective anterior arms closely appressed anteriorly, linear or loop-shaped; articulated with aedeagus.

FEMALE GENITALIA. Pygofer with numerous macrosetae. Ovipositor not protruding far beyond pygofer apex. First valvula not strongly convex; dorsal sculpturing pattern imbricate (with overlapping scales); sculpturing submarginal; without distinctly delimited ventroapical sculpturing. Second valvula broad,

gradually tapered; without dorsal median tooth; teeth on apical 1/3 or more; teeth small, regularly or irregularly shaped.

Geography and ecology

Distribution: Palearctic and Afrotropical regions. Tetartostylini feed on grasses.

Remarks

Tetartostylini contains the type genus and 11 species. It is resolved as sister to the Paralimnini + Deltocephalini clade in all phylogenetic analyses conducted thus far, with moderate to strong branch support. With those two tribes, it shares a tapered clypellus and a ‘linear’ connective. Further taxon sampling in Paralimnini could indicate that it belongs in that tribe. For now, the continued recognition of the tribe is supported by phylogenetic analyses. Dmitriev (2003) included Hiltus Theron, 1974 in the tribe based on nymphal characters, but because this genus does not have the subgenital plates fused to the valve and pseudostyli articulated with connective, we follow Theron (1974) in placing that genus in Paralimnini .

Selected references

Wagner (1951), Theron (1973), Dmitriev (2003).

Notes on illustration ( Fig. 55 )

The species figured in Fig. 55 A-B, D-J is perhaps referable to T. acutus Heller & Linnavuori, 1968 described from Ethiopia. A series of four males and three females (INHS) were collected from: ZAMBIA: Northwestern Prov., ~ 28.5 km N of Mwinilunga, 11°30’16.1” S – 24°22’44.8” E, Chitunta plain grassland, 1384 m, 5-7 Nov. 2007, ZA-03, sweep, JN Zahniser. This series shares with T. acutus a similar shape of the female sternite VII and similar coloration of the face. However, T. acutus was described based only on a female specimen. The females examined here are somewhat shorter (4.8- 4.9 mm) than that described by Heller & Linnavuori (5.5 mm). For now, the Zambian specimens are tentatively identified as T. acutus , but confirmation by comparison to the type is needed. The specimens were collected in a native Zambian grassland from which numerous other undescribed species of Deltocephalinae have been identified (e.g., Doratulina dmitrievi sp. nov., below). Further exploration of the central and east African grasslands will likely reveal a rich, nearly completely undescribed fauna of Deltocephalinae .

Included genera

Tetartostylus Wagner, 1951

Figures

Fig. 55. Tetartostylini. A–B, D–J. Tetartostylus acutus Heller & Linnavuori, 1968. C. Tetartostylus sp. A–I. Standard views (see Material & Methods). G. Connective and style shown with processes of connective or “pseudostyles”. J. ♀ sternite VII.