Philipsalta exilis Lee and Marshall, 2023

Lee, Young June, Marshall, David C., Mohagan, Alma B., Hill, Kathy B. R. & Mohagan, Dave P., 2023, Revised checklist of Cicadidae (Insecta: Hemiptera) of Mindanao, Philippines, with descriptions of a new genus and nine new species, Journal of Natural History 57 (1 - 4), pp. 193-242 : 233-236

29. Philipsalta exilis Lee and Marshall sp. nov.

( Figures 17 , 18 )

Type material

Holotype. Male, specimen code 12.PH. MN. SSM.02, PHILIPPINES, Mindanao, Davao City , Marilog District , Datu Salumay , Mt. Malambo , 7°29.28 ʹ N, 125°15.18 ʹ E, 18 April 2012, K.B. R. Hill, D.C. Marshall and A.B. Mohagan ( NMPM).

Paratype. 1 male, specimen code 12. PH. MN. SSM.01, DNA voucher, same collection data .

Etymology

The specific name is a Latin adjective meaning ̍slender̾, ̍thin̾, ̍feeble̾ or ̍small̾, in reference to the small and slender body of this species.

Measurements of holotype (1 male)

Length of body: 14.2. Length of head and thorax together: 5.5. Length of abdomen:8.7. Width of head including compound eyes: 3.6. Width of pronotum: 4.2. Width of mesonotum: 3.5. Width of abdominal tergite 3: 3.9. Length of fore wing: 16.8. Width of fore wing: 6.3. Wing span: 37.0.

Description of male

Body tiny and slender. Head: Vertex ochraceous with the following fuscous marks: inverted triangular mark surrounding median ocellus; a pair of rather indistinct marks surrounding lateral ocelli; a pair of spots on inner corners of supra-antennal plates; and a pair of spots on posterolateral corner of vertex (touching compound eyes). Distance between lateral ocelli and compound eyes about as long as distance between lateral ocelli. Antennae black except for reddish-brown scape and base of pedicel. Postclypeus not swollen anteriad and rather flat ventrally; reddish brown to ochraceous with V-shaped black median mark, of which posterior part merged into a large patch. Anteclypeus reddish ochraceous with median fuscous spot and fuscous posterior margin. Rostrum brown with black apex; with apex extending slightly beyond posterior margin of mid trochanter. Lorum ochraceous with large fuscous spot posteriorly. Gena ochraceous without distinct marks.

Thorax

Pronotum ochraceous. Inner area of pronotum with the following fuscous marks: tiny spot on posteromedian margin of inner area;a pair of short longitudinal fasciae between about middle of paramedian fissures and posterior ends of lateral fissures; a pair of fasciae along lateral fissures; irregular indistinct marks between paramedian fissures and lateral fissures; and a pair of curved fasciae along lateral margins of inner area. Pronotal collar very narrow; without marks. Anterolateral pronotal collar not dentate. Mesonotum dull ochraceous with a pair of fuscous patches on entire submedian sigilla and a pair of longitudinal larger patches on almost entire lateral sigilla. Cruciform elevation light ochraceous or yellow without distinct marks. Thoracic sternites greenish light ochraceous. Legs ochraceous to reddish brown with some fuscous spots. Fore femur with primary, secondary and subapical spines.

Wings hyaline without infuscation; with extremely narrow marginal areas. Fore wing venation reddish brown basally but fuscous distally. Basal membrane yellowish grey. Hind wing with five or six apical cells (possibly with six apical cells normally, considering other Philipsalta species have six apical cells).

Operculum small, semicircular, not reaching posterior margin of sternite II; greenish light ochraceous. Opercula separated from each other.

Abdomen long triangular in dorsal view, much longer than head and thorax together, with ridge formed on tergites 4–7 dorsomedially; slightly greenish light ochraceous with grey-tinged lateral margins. Tergite 1 very short, less than one-fourth as long as tergite 2 in median length. Tergites 3–8 black to fuscous on about anterior half and brown to ochraceous on about posterior half dorsomedially; upper lateral surfaces slightly translucent. A pair of fuscous globose bumps present on lateral margins of tergite 2. Timbal cover absent. Timbals not extending below wing bases ventrally. Abdominal sternites translucent, ochraceous indistinctly with pinkish caudal margin on each of sternites 3–6. Genitalia

Pygofer ovate with triangular dorsal beak in ventral view. Upper lobe moderately pointed. Dorsal beak triangular. Median lobe of uncus moderately protruding. A pair of clasper-like processes protruding straight downward.

Remarks

This new species can be distinguished from Philipsalta nigrina by body colouration and by the comparative size and shape of each part of the body and wings as follows: body colouration not monotonous(vs entirely black in P.nigrina );head comparatively short,about half as long as pronotum (vs about two-thirds as long as pronotum in P. nigrina ); fore wing radial cell comparatively narrow, narrower than ulnar cell 3 (vs spacious, broader than ulnar cell 3 in P. nigrina ); and male abdomen much longer than head and thorax together (vs slightly longer in P. nigrina ).

Song ( Figure 18 )

About 190 s of song was recorded from this species at the type locality, including that of the paratype male, which is illustrated here. Males produce song phrases of about 0.3– 0.85 s duration at a regular pace of about 0.5 phrases/s. Each phrase begins with about 8–20 doublet pulses produced at 40 doublets/s, with the first pulse of each doublet louder. The doublets increase in intensity towards the end of this long syllable. After a gap equivalent to the time needed for one additional doublet, the phrase concludes with a syllable of 6– 13 doublets produced at a faster rate (60/s) and with a greater intensity. In our recording, it is difficult to discern the quieter pulse of each doublet in the second syllable.

There is a tendency, across phrases, for pulse doublets to drop out occasionally within both syllables. The recording was taken with the recordist close to the cicada and attempting to attract it with finger-snaps, so disturbance could have occurred.

The frequency spectrum is broad, reaching from at least 8 kHz to above 20 kHz, but most energy is concentrated within the range 8–12 kHz. The dominant frequency is about 10 kHz.

Males sang from perches on vertical surfaces (e.g. ferns, tree trunks, small branches) around 2–4 m aboveground in the forest interior. The song of Philipsalta exilis Lee and Marshall sp. nov. can be distinguished from that of the next new species of Philipsalta (below) by the absence of a short single-doublet element ending many of the phrases and by the uniform rate of production of pulse doublets within the first syllable/echeme. Philipsalta exilis and P. nigrina have a similar song structure, but in the latter species the pulses in the first section of each phrase form widely separated four-pulse syllables, the intervening gaps being much longer than the syllables.

Figures

Figure 17. Philipsalta exilis Lee and Marshall sp. nov., holotype, male, Mindanao, Philippines. (A) Dorsal habitus; (B) ventral habitus; (C) pygofer, lateral view.

Figure 18. Philipsalta exilis Lee and Marshall sp. nov. Waveforms (A, C) of male calling song at two time scales, the former with accompanying spectrogram (B).