Fidicinoides guayabana, Sanborn, Moore and Young, 2008

Sanborn, Allen F., Moore, Thomas E. & Young, Allen M., 2008, Two new cicada species from Costa Rica (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadidae) with a key to the species of Fidicinoides in Costa Rica, Zootaxa 1846, pp. 1-20 : 10-17

Fidicinoides guayabana sp.n.

(figs. 14–25)

Fidicina “guayabana” nom. nud. Young 1977: 270–272 (ecology)

Fidicina “guayabana” nom. nud. Duffels and van der Laan 1985: 91 (catalogue, as nom. nud.).

Fidicina sp. 3, the “guayabana cicada”, F. guayabana Young 1984: 171 , 177 (host associations), 179 (population census).

Type material. COSTA RICA. HOLOTYPE: male ( MCPM) “ Alajuela, Naranjo, coffee farm, XI-30-1972, A.M. Young coll./ Fidicina “ guayabana ” nov. sp. Moore & Young, Det. A.M. Young ”. PARATYPES: 1 female ( MCPM) same data as holotype but XI-29-1972 / Fidicina sp., Det. A.M. Young”; 1 male ( AFSC) same data as holotype but XII-29-1972 / Fidicina semilata (Walker) Det. A.M. Young , X-10-74 at UMMZ ”; 1 male ( MCPM) “Heredia Prov., San Joquin, in coffee farm, XI-28-1972 / Fidicina semilata (Walker) Det. A. Young , X-30-74 at UMMZ ”; 1 male and 3 females ( MCPM except male and 1 female AFSC) “Alajuela Prov. San Ramon, I-6-1973, A.M. Young coll. / Fidicina sp. Det. A.M. Young”; 1 female ( MCPM) “Alajuela Prov., in coffee farm, XII-22-1974, A.M. Young coll. / Fidicina “ coffea ” nov. sp. Moore & Young. Det. A.M. Young”; 1 male ( UMMZ) “Prov. Alajuela, San Ramón, 9-XI-1969, A.M. Young, coffee plantation/ large numbers singing at 9am., 2-note song?/ Fidicina nr. semilata (Walker) (as illus. Biol. Cent. Amer.), Det. T.E. Moore ‘69/ similar to taped species from Areia, Brazil?”; 1 male ( MCPM) “Alejuela Prov., Naranja, coffee farm, XI-29- 1972, A.M. Young coll./ Fidicina semilata (Walker) Det. A. Young , X-30-74 at UMMZ ”, 1 male ( UMMZ) “Alejuela Prov., Alejuela coffee plot, A.M. Young coll., XI-27-1972 / F. semilata (Wlkr) Det. A. Young ‘80”; 1 male and 1 female ( UMMZ) “Naranjo, XII-29-1972, A.M.Y., coffee finca”; 1 male ( MCPM) “San Joquin de Heredia, XII-28-1972, in coffee finca”.

Etymology. The species is named for the association with groves of Costa Rican guava ( Psidium guajava L.).

Description.

Coloration. Ground color of head, thorax and abdomen olive green tinged with tawny, marked with fuscous (fig. 14).

Head (fig. 15). Slightly wider than mesonotum. Fuscous mark on frons encircling median ocellus, extending laterally onto vertex to level of antennae, anteriorly onto postclypeus and posteriorly in epicranial suture before expanding laterally along posterior head. Fuscous band on ventral head narrowing laterally to junction with eye, mark extends around lateral and posterior border of eye terminating on posterior head and anteriorly to middle level of head mark where it turns medially ending in a small, separate spot on vertex next to eye, but connected to line in some paratypes. Silver, gold and black pile along frontoclypeal suture, long silver pile on ventral head and posterior to eye. Black pile along posterior head and epicranial suture, absent in some paratypes. Postclypeus green tinged with tawny, lateral fuscous mark between anteclypeus and third transverse groove. Anteclypeus fuscous laterally. Rostrum tawny becoming fuscous at tip. Lorum fuscous except green on anterior half of lateral border. Lorum and lateral portions of postclypeus and anteclypeus covered with long silvery pile. Genae green. Scape tawny, pedicel fuscous with tawny medial spot, antennal flagellum fuscous.

Thorax (fig. 15). Pronotum with fuscous anterior mark extending from anterior quarter of paramedian fissure to lateral ambient fissure including anterior quarter of lateral fissure, reduced in some paratypes or extending to anterior half of paramedian fissure in other paratypes. Approximately triangular fuscous spot on medially anterior to pronotal collar to level of medial terminus of paramedical fissure. Small black spots on pronotal collar, absent in some paratypes. Silver and black pile along anterior margin, in fissures and on lateral part of pronotal collar. Mesonotum with four fuscous marks anteriorly. Medial pair smaller anteriorly but extending along parapsidal suture to form comma shaped mark on submedian sigilla. This medial mark expands to obconical mark in some paratypes. Lateral pair forming a right triangle on lateral sigilla. Lateral and submedian sigillae tinged with testaceous, some paratypes only ground color. Scutal depression fuscous. Fuscous mark in anterior depression of cruciform elevation. Metanotum with fuscous anterior line between wing groove and cruciform elevation, tawny laterally. Thorax with fine, silvery pile between medial and lateral anterior marks, longer along posterior and lateral mesonotum, between anterior arms of cruciform elevation, and on metanotum. Short black pile on lateral and posterior mesonotum. Ventral thoracic plates greenish tawny except tawny basisternum 3 and episternum 3 and fuscous basisternum 2, meron 2, katepisternum 2 and episternum 2. Fuscous marks on anterior anepisternum 2, lateral episternum 3 and episternum 3 at junction of lateral portion of basisternum 3.

Legs. Green and tawny marked with fuscous. Coxae proximally and distally with fuscous mark, connected laterally in hind coxae. Fuscous mark on proximal and distal trochanters connected laterally. Femora with annular muscus mark proximally. Fore femora with three spines on under ridge, primary spine largest, tawny and parallel to femur, secondary spine upright with tawny tip, distal spine smallest, slightly oblique. Tibiae green becoming tawny distally. Tarsi testaceous becoming fuscous distally. Tips of claws fuscous.

Tegmina and wings (fig. 14). Hyaline. Basal venation of tegmina green becoming fuscous distally except for tawny proximal and distal anal vein 2 + 3. Costal margin green with testaceous anterior edge and elongated fuscous mark proximally. Basal cell testaceous except for clear spot along median cubbitus anterior vein, green edged with testaceous in some paratypes. Wing venation fuscous except green costal vein. Basal venation with orange marks. Plaga and margins along anal veins 2 and 3 testaceous.

Operculum (figs, 17, 18). Male operculum tawny greenish with tawny edge, not reaching the posterior margin of abdominal segment II. Anterior operculum border fuscous, mark expanding lateral to meracanthus. Operculum rounded posteriorly and medially. Hind border sinuate. Opercula separated along midline, medial portion bent ventrally over slightly protruding sternite I. Meracanthus tawny with a fuscous base. White pile on anterior operculum forming a spot between meracanthus and lateral border and on base of meracanthus. Female operculum triangular, similar markings to male except only lateral border tawny, reaching medially to lateral meracanthus.

Abdomen (fig. 14, 16). Dorsal abdominal tergites fuscous anteriorly, green posterioly, testaceous hind border in tergites 3–7. Posterior margin of tergite 1 fuscous laterally along timbal cavity. Fuscous anterior mark small on tergite 2, maximal expansion in tergite 4. Tergites with long silvery pile, forming spots on lateral posterior portion of tergites 3 and 4. Black pile on lateral tergites, sparse on median tergites 2 and 3 and thick across tergite 7. Thick black pile forming spots on ventral portion of sternites 3 and 4. Black and silver pile across tergites in some paratypes. Sternites tawny, spiracles white. Sternites III–VI semitransparent. Small transverse marks on lateral sternite II. Sparse silvery pile on sternites. Black pile except medially from sternite III to sternite VII. Timbal cover tawny, incomplete, exposing timbal medially and anteriorly. Sternite VIII with long golden pile in males.

Male genitalia (figs. 19, 20, 21). Pygofer tawny with fuscous mark on anterior lateral surface and distal lateral surface. Long black pile forming a spot on distal lateral surface. Uncus testaceous, rectangular with medial lobe slightly arched dorsally and lateral lobes recurved ventrally. Lateral uncus lobes with long golden pile on terminus. Terminal median and lateral uncus lobes forming an arch into which aedeagus fits. Aedeagus fuscous, three small lateral spines on endotheca.

Female genitalia (figs. 22, 23). Sternite VII with a rounded notch containing golden pile. Abdominal segment 9 greenish tawny with a pair of medial obconical spots extending from anterior border. Longer lateral stripes extending from anterior border to about half the distance of abdominal segment 9. A fuscous spot ventral to terminus of lateral stipe. Ventral and posterior edge of abdominal segment 9 tawny. Long, silvery pile along dorsal and proximal lateral surface. Black pile on lateral surface distally. Long, tawny pile ventrally. Ovipositor sheath fuscous with testaceous tip, extending same distance as tip of dorsal beak.

Measurements (mm). N = 9 males or 6 females, mean (range). Length of body: male 25.6 (24.2–27.0), female 24.3 (22.8–25.6); length of tegmina: male 35.3 (33.9–36.8), female 36.7 (34.7–38.9); width of tegmina: male 11.1 (10.8–11.4), female 11.0 (10.1–11.6); length of head: male 3.6 (3.2–4.0), female 3.6 (3.4– 3.9); width of head including eyes: male 10.4 (10.1–10.7), female 10.7 (10.0–11.0); width of pronotum including suprahumeral plates: male 10.6 (10.3–10.9), female 10.8 (10.1–11.3); width of mesonotum: male 8.9 (8.7–9.4), female 9.3 (8.6–9.7).

Notes. – The triangular shape of the timbal cover is characteristic of members of the genus Dorisiana Metcalf. However , F. guayabana has three segmented tarsi not the two segmented tarsi found in the genus Dorisiana ( Delétang 1919) . Fidicinoides guayabana is most similar in general appearance to F. variegata ( Sanborn 2005) . The species can be easily separated by the spines found on the costal margin of the tegmina of F. variegata .

Fidicinoides guayabana is also distributed along the Cordillera Central of Costa Rica in similar moist forest habitats to F. c o f f e a in the highlands surrounding the Meseta Central region (Young 1977, 1984). The known distribution comes from the type material which includes the specimens used in the studies of Young (1977, 1984).

The species has been collected in montane wet (rain) forests during the dry season (March–August) and has been associated with shade trees in coffee and Costa Rican guava plantations ( Young 1984). Nymphal exuviae have also been associated with legumes, particularly with Zygia longifolia (Willd.) , Inga fissicalyx Pittier and Inga sp. ( Young 1984). The populations are relatively low with an estimate of mean density of about 109 cicadas per year per location ( Young 1984).

The song of F. guayabana (figs. 24–25), based on an analysis of 18 recorded songs, is a two-part song with a broad band of frequencies comprising an initial steady buzz of 12–22 s duration usually followed by 1– 11 short buzzes of about 0.25 s duration separated by 0.6– 0.75 s. The phrases end abruptly. Peak frequencies among these broad-band songs are 5,906–6,843 Hz. Sometimes no ending short buzzes are produced. Complete songs last from 12–44 s. No satisfactory mnemonic comes to mind for this song, but perhaps zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzht…zht….zht…zht might be useful. This species does produce disturbance squawks readily, but none have been recorded.