Epipsylla Kuwayama, 1908

Li, Bin, Yang, Mao-Fa & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2015, Epipsylla millettiae sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Psylloidea), a new psyllid from China associated with Millettia pachyloba (Fabaceae) with comments on Epipsylla including the redescription of E. hainanana, Zootaxa 3986 (1), pp. 135-143 : 136-137

Epipsylla Kuwayama, 1908

Epipsylla Kuwayama, 1908: 178 .

Type species: Epipsylla albolineata Kuwayama , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Adult. Body robust, hairy, medium to large sized. Vertex, genal processes and thorax often with longitudinal bands. Similar longitudinal bands may be present along raised area between posterior margin of antennal insertion and lateral ocellus, on lateral margin of pronotum, on genal processes laterally and ventrally. Head moderately inclined from longitudinal body axis in an angle of about 45°. Vertex weakly concave posteriorly, anterior margin moderately raised, slightly wider than long, lateral ocellus on longitudinal tubercle extending from antennal insertion to hind margin of vertex, median suture fully developed. Vertex sparsely covered with long setae. Frons almost entirely covered by median ocellus which is completely exposed. Genal processes long, conical, divergent or subparallel, hirsute, longer than vertex along median suture. Antenna 10-segmented, long and slender, longer than body length including folded wings; segments 7 or 8 longer than segment 3. Thorax weakly arched, pronotum short, mesoscutum slightly narrower than head width. Metacoxa with horn-shaped meracanthus. Legs relatively long and robust. Metatibia without basal spine, apex with an open, dense crown of 7–9 strongly sclerotised apical spurs; metabasitarsus with 2 black spurs. Forewing oblong oval, with rounded apex, membrane transparent, often tinged light brown; pterostigma very small or almost wanting. Abdomen robust and short.

Male terminalia short and robust. Proctiger tubular. Paramere strongly curved inward apically, sometimes its base widened anteriorly, with a well-developed, apically sclerotised lobe on inner surface. Aedeagus 2-segmented; proximal segment rarely U-shaped and slender, often weakly curved and strongly inflated; distal segment with a pair of long and slender filamentous processes. Female terminalia relatively short. Proctiger longer than or as long as subgenital plate.

Last instar immature. Body elongate, oval, weakly sclerotised. Antenna long, 7-segmented, with 4 rhinaria, one each on segments 3 and 5, and two on segment 7. Legs very long, claws developed, about as long as fan-shaped tarsal arolium. Wing pads relatively small, forewing pad lacking humeral lobe. Abdomen membranous, lacking sclerotised caudal plate. Anus terminal. Circumanal ring large, extending to dorsal and ventral body surface; consisting of several rows of pores.

Phylogenetic relationships. Epipsylla is similar, and probably closely related, to the Neotropical Caradocia Laing, 1923 and the Australian Geijerolyma Froggatt, 1903 based on the long and slender antenna, the apically rounded forewing which is widest in the middle and lacks a large pterostigma, as well as the metatibia bearing an open crown of apical spurs. It differs from the two genera in the genal processes which have diverging or subparallel axes (in Caradocia and Geijerolyma converging to apex), the relatively broad and stout paramere with a well-developed inner lobe (in Caradocia and Geijerolyma moderately slender, without inner lobe), and the distal segment of the aedeagus which bears a pair of long and slender processes (lacking in Caradocia and Geijerolyma ). From Geijerolyma it differs also in the longer antenna which reaches beyond the tip of the forewing when folded over the body, and with segment 7 or 8 longest (in Geijerolyma shorter, with segment 3 longest). Species of Epipsylla are generally associated with Fabaceae (only E. rubrofasciata with Euphorbiaceae E. wushaensis with Fabaceae and Malpighiaceae ), of Caradocia with Anacardiaceae and of Geijerolyma with Rutaceae . Epipsylla occurs in the Old World tropics, Caradocia in the Neotropical region and Geijerolyma in the Australian Region.

Distribution. Oriental, Australian and Afrotropical (unpublished NHMB data) regions.