Philipsalta lata 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 : 236-239

30. Philipsalta lata Lee and Marshall sp. nov.

( Figures 19 , 20 )

Type material

Holotype. Male, specimen code 12.PH. MN.CAC.01, PHILIPPINES, Mindanao, Cateel / Compostela Rd., nr bdry, 726 m, 07°39.93 ʹ N, 126°12.82 ʹ E, 6 May 2012, K.B. R. Hill, D.C. Marshall and A.B. Mohagan ( NMPM).

Etymology

The specific name is a Latin feminine adjective meaning ̍broad̾ or ̍wide̾, in reference to the broader body of this species compared with the previous species.

Measurements of type (1 male)

Length of body: 15.4. Length of head and thorax together: 6.4. Length of abdomen: 9.0. Width of head including compound eyes: 4.1. Width of pronotum: 4.6. Width of mesonotum: 4.0. Width of abdominal tergite 3: 4.3. Length of fore wing: 17.7. Width of fore wing: 6.6. Wing span: 39.1.

Description of male

Body tiny. Head: Vertex ochraceous with the following black marks, connected to each other: inverted triangular mark surrounding median ocellus; a pair of marks surrounding lateral ocelli, expanding to anterior and lateral margins of vertex; a pair of spots on inner corners of supra-antennal plates; and a pair of spots on posterolateral corner of vertex (touching compound eyes). Compound eyes light brown in life. Distance between lateral ocelli and compound eyes about as long as distance between lateral ocelli. Antennae black to fuscous. Postclypeus not swollen anteriad and rather flat ventrally; dull ochraceous with broad black median fascia. Anteclypeus dull ochraceous with median fuscous fascia and fuscous lateral margins. Rostrum ochraceous with black apex; with apex extending slightly beyond posterior margin of mid coxa. Lorum dull ochraceous with black longitudinal spot on inner corner of lorum. Gena dull ochraceous with black spot on inner corner of gena.

Thorax. Pronotum dull ochraceous. Inner area of pronotum with the following black to fuscous marks: tiny indistinct 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 paramedian fissures, with their posterior parts indistinct; a pair of fasciae along lateral fissures; and a pair of curved fasciae along lateral margins of inner area. Pronotal collar very narrow; without distinct marks. Anterolateral pronotal collar not dentate. Mesonotum dull ochraceous with a pair of black to fuscous patches on entire submedian sigilla and a pair of larger longitudinal patches on almost entire lateral sigilla but partly indistinct. Cruciform elevation light ochraceous without marks. Thoracic sternites ochraceous. Legs ochraceous to dull brown with some fuscous marks. Fore femur with primary, secondary and subapical spines.

Wings hyaline without infuscation; with extremely narrow marginal areas. Fore wing venation dull brown basally but fuscous distally. Basal membrane grey. Hind wing with six apical cells.

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

Abdomen triangular in dorsal view, much longer than head and thorax together; ochraceous. Tergite 1 about half as long as tergite 2 in median length. Tergites 3–7 each with fuscous spot anteromedially. 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 ochraceous with greyish patches irregularly.

Genitalia. Pygofer ovate with triangular dorsal beak in ventral view. Upper lobe moderately pointed. Dorsal beak triangular. Median lobe of uncus very short. A pair of clasperlike processes protruding downward but slightly curved, with apices heading outward.

Remarks

This new species can be distinguished from Philipsalta exilis Lee and Marshall sp. nov. mainly by the following characteristics, besides the differences in colours and marks: fore wing ulnar cell 2 more spacious than ulnar cell 1 (vs smaller than ulnar cell 1 in P. exilis ); male operculum with lateral margin slightly concave (vs not concave in P. exilis ); male abdomen with convex lateral margins in dorsal view (vs with almost linear marginal lines in P. exilis ); median lobe of uncus comparatively short (vs moderately protruding, longer in P. exilis ); and clasper-like processes slightly curved outward in ventral view (vs straight in P. exilis ).

Song ( Figure 20 )

A 70s song sample was recorded from the holotype male and is illustrated here. Males produce phrases of 0.1– 0.16 s duration at 1.8–2.6 phrases/s. Most phrases contain a single echeme followed by an isolated doublet after a silent gap of about 11–13 ms; some phrases lack the final doublet. The quality of the one recording is weak, in part due to environmental noise and echo, but for the clearest phrases the main echeme exhibits a complex pulse pattern, with sets of three stronger pulses or doublets produced at 350 pulses/s separated by single weaker pulses, and with the gaps preceding and following the weaker pulses being shorter than those separating the main pulses.

The frequency spectrum is broad, reaching from at least 8 kHz to well above 20 kHz, and has a peak around 13 kHz. Both the sound frequency and amplitude increase somewhat during the first half of each song phrase.

The song of Philipsalta lata Lee and Marshall sp. nov. is distinguishable from those of P. exilis and P. nigrina by the short single-doublet element ending most phrases, as well as by the complex 3 + 1 pulse pattern within the main echeme ( P. exilis and P. nigrina have pulses or doublets produced at a uniform rate).

Figures

Figure 19. Philipsalta lata Lee and Marshall sp. nov., holotype, male, Mindanao, Philippines. (A) Dorsal habitus; (B) ventral habitus; (C) pygofer, lateral view.

Figure 20. Philipsalta lata Lee and Marshall sp. nov., holotype male calling song. Waveforms (A, C) of male calling song at two time scales, the former with accompanying spectrogram (B).