Phyllotettix (Rhombotettix) rhombeus (Felton, 1765)

Skejo, Josip, Yong, Sheyla, Bogic, Domagoj & Kasalo, Niko, 2023, Caribbean pygmy jumping leaves (Tetrigidae, Cladonotinae, Choriphyllini), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 70 (1), pp. 129-141 : 129

Phyllotettix (Rhombotettix) rhombeus (Felton, 1765)

Cicada rhombea Felton, 1765: 55 (original description and holotype drawing). Taxonomic and nomenclatural history.

Cicada rhombea Backer.; Linnaeus 1767: 704-705 (listed in the catalogue);

Membracis rhombea Linn.; Fabricius 1775: 675 (listed in the catalogue, brief description).

Hymenotes rhombea Fabricius; Westwood 1837: 130 (listed in the catalogue).

Hymenotes rhombea Felton; Westwood 1839: 492, 493, f. 1 (nec 2) (drawings, a new specimen reported) (Fig. 5 ).

Acridium (Hymenotes) rhombeum Baker.; de Haan 1843: 165 (included in the key, listed in the catalogue, short re-description).

Hymenotes rhombea Westw.; Scudder 1869: 41 (listed in the catalogue);

Choriphyllum rhombeum Baker; Walker 1871: 845 (listed in the catalogue, Acridium compressum and Choriphyllum sagrai wrongly listed as synonyms of Choriphyllum rhombeum ).

Choriphyllum rhombeum Walk.; Thomas 1873: 245 (wrong identification of Choriphyllum sagrai or C. saussurei , as it is reported from Cuba and is cited to have the caudal portion of the pronotum slanted; Serville’s collection).

Choriphyllum rhombeum L.; Bolívar 1887: 202-203 (included in the key and the catalogue, re-described); Günther 1938: 316 (briefly discussed);

Choriphyllum westwoodi Hancock, 1902a: Plate I (fig. 2), 42, 44 (included in the key, short re-description) (Note: even though Choriphyllum westwoodi was aimed to be a replacement name for Acrydium compressum , the type specimen on which the new name was based belongs to Phyllotettix rhombeus ) syn. nov. (Figs 5 , 6 ).

Phyllotettix rhombeus (Baker.), Bruner 1910: 94 (listed in the catalogue, wrongly cited from Cuba based probably on misidentification by Thomas 1873); Steinmann 1969: 384 (listed in the catalogue).

Phyllotettix rhombea Linn; Kirby 1910: 4-5 (listed in the catalogue); Günther 1938: 317 (briefly discussed).

Phyllotettix westwoodi Hancock.; Bolívar 1887: 94 (listed in the catalogue, brief diagnosis).

Zaphyllonotum westwoodi Hancock; Caudel 1909: 113 (mentioned as a new combination of Choriphyllum compressum ).

Phyllotettix rhombeus (Linnaeus, 1767) Silva et al. 2019: 4 (status of the holotype).

Phyllotettix rhombeus (Felton, 1765) Silva et al. 2019: 9, 14, 15 (status of the holotype, re-description, holotype photographs).

Type locality.

Jamaica, without specified locality ( Felton 1765).

Type specimens.

Holotype of Cicada rhombea . Jamaica • 1 ♀; BMNH. Photograph on the OSF, http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1100605.

Holotype ♀ of Choriphyllum westwoodi (plate 1, fig. 2 in Hancock 1902a = Hymenotes rhombea depicted in fig. 67: 2, 2a, b in Westwood 1839) (probably in BMNH, but the locations of the specimens were not mentioned by Hancock (1902a) who established a new based on its appearance).

Distribution

(Fig. 2 ). The Jamaican Colossal Jumping Leaf is endemic to Jamaica, but no precise localities are known. We can suppose that it still lives in the leaf litter of the Jamaican rainforests.

Diagnosis

(Figs 1 , 3 , 5 , 6 ). Similar to Phyllotettix (Rhombotettix) plagiatus , but easily separated by the shape of the anterior and posterior margins of the pronotum, as seen in the lateral view. The most anteriorly projected anterior part of the pronotum is not the one that hangs over the head, as in R. plagiatus , but the projection on the anterior portion of the pronotal crest. The pronotal crest is rectangular and abruptly falls towards the tip after its highest point.

Measurements.

See Table 1 .

Figures

Figure 1. Diversity of the Caribbean Pygmy Jumping Leaves, tribe Choriphyllini, genera Choriphyllum and Phyllotettix. All the specimens with available photographs are shown, representing the first variability assessment for the species of these genera. The scale bar represents 5 millimetres.

Figure 2. Biogeography of the Caribbean Jumping Leaves (Cladonotinae, Choriphyllini). Biogeographic data of the tribe Choriphyllini is scarce. The distribution map of the six species belonging to this leaf-like tribe has the distribution of three species missing, as no localities are known.

Figure 3. Annotated schematic pictorial key to genera and species of Choriphyllini. Specimens are not to scale; for size comparison see Fig. 1. The red line shows the position of the highest point of the pronotal crest. The blue arrow points to the anterior margin of the pronotum; the green arrow points to the posterior pronotal tip; and the purple arrow points to the caudal margin of the pronotal crest. Shown are silhouettes of the type specimens of each species. For C. sagrai, shown is the silhouette of Serville's (1838) drawing of the holotype. The capital sinus is marked in red and pointed out in grey.

Figure 5. Hancock's plate I from the " Tettigidae of North America " shows leaf-like Caribbean species under the numbers 1), 2) and 7), but has many taxonomic and nomenclatural errors. 1) - Phyllotettix foliatus (= female holotype of Hancock's Choriphyllum foliatum), 2) - Phyllotettix rhombeus (= Hancock's Choriphyllum westwoodi), 7) - Choriphyllum saussurei. (= Hancock's Phyllonotus saussurei). Source: Biodiversity Heritage Library, available at https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / item / 25899 # page / 10.

Figure 6. The evidence of synonymy of Choriphyllum westwoodi Hancock, 1902 a with Phyllotettix rhombeus (Felton, 1965); A. Felton's (1765) original drawing of Cicada rhombea; B. Felton's and Westwood's drawings of specimens of Phyllotettix rhombeus overlapped, showing they are almost identical; C. Westwood's (1839) drawing of a new record of Hymenotes rhombea; D. Hancock's (1902 a) establishment of the name " Choriphyllum westwoodi "; E. Hancock's (1902 a) drawing of Choriphyllum westwoodi can be regarded as type specimen designation. All specimens undoubtedly show Phyllotettix rhombeus (see Figs 1 - 3 for comparison).