Sonata, Lee, Young June, 2010

Lee, Young June, 2010, Cicadas (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of Mindanao, Philippines, with the description of a new genus and a new species, Zootaxa 2351, pp. 14-28 : 20

Genus Sonata gen. nov.

Type species. Oncotympana fuscata Distant, 1905 ( Fig. 4 ) is designated as the type species for Sonata gen. nov. because this species, described by Distant (1905b) based on an adult male, is the most common species among its congeners, inhabiting a very broad range over continental Asia, from Far Eastern Russia and Korea to western China.

Diagnosis. This genus is similar to Oncotympana in having timbal covers prominently globose and a short abdomen but is distinguished by the following characters: medial pronotal collar broad, about one-fourth to one-third the length of inner area; anterolateral pronotal collar not dentate (sometimes indistinctly dentate in Oncotympana ); male operculum shorter than wide but very large, overlapped centrally or nearly touching; forewing with a broad cubital cell, about as broad as medial cell; vein radius anterior 2 of forewing anteriorly curved; male abdomen opaque ventrally; aedeagus very thick; uncal lobes separated only distally or close to each other at base.

Other important features (often shared by Oncotympana ) are as follows: body medium-sized (male body length approximately 20.0 39.0 mm); postclypeus barely swollen; pronotum long, longer than twice the length of head; wings hyaline; male operculum wider than long; male abdomen slightly shorter than distance from head to cruciform elevation; posterior margin of male abdominal tergite 3 much wider than anterior margin of mesonotum.

Etymology. The generic name is a feminine noun from the music term Sonata , which is a form of large scale instrumental work composed of several movements. The type species and its close relatives sing very peculiar and complex calling songs as if playing a sonata .

Remarks. The genus Sonata includes nine species: S. fuscata (Distant) comb. nov. ( Fig. 4 ), S. maculaticollis (De Motschulsky) comb. nov., S. ella (Lei & Chou) comb. nov., S. expansa (Walker) comb. nov., S. mahoni (Distant) comb. nov., S. melanoptera (Distant) comb. nov., S. obnubila (Distant) comb. nov., S. stratoria (Distant) comb. nov., and S. virescens (Distant) comb. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Sonata fuscata (Distant) comb. nov., male, Korea. A. dorsal view. B. ventral view.