Oceatra litoralis gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: C3F31EA9-7579-425A-BA43-C2A916A36F78

Figs 1–2, 4B–C, 5A–C, 6–7

Diagnosis

See the identification key to species of Oceatra gen. nov. above.

Etymology

From the Latin adjective ‘ litoralis ’ (= ‘of the seashore’, ‘littoral’), referring to the habitat of the new species in the coastal salt marshes.

Type material

Holotype YEMEN • ♂; Socotra Island, ca 3 km NE of Shuab; 12°34.1′ N, 53°23.9′ E; 3 m a.s.l.; 20–21 Jun. 2012; I. Malenovský, P. Kment, J. Bezděk, J. Hájek, V. Hula, J. Niedobová and L. Purchart leg.; sweeping and suction sampling in Avicennia marina mangrove, salt marsh and sand dunes; MMBC.

Paratypes YEMEN – Socotra Island • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; MMBC • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; ZIN .

Description

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length: males – 3.0 mm, females – 4.0 mm.

COLORATION. Male (Fig. 1). General coloration light ochreous. Upper half of metope dark brown to black, carinae light ochreous (Fig. 1C). Postclypeus with dark brown dots and spots laterally. Anteclypeus dark brown. Rostrum dark brown ventrally, black apically. Pedicel brown to dark brown. Coryphe with dark brown dots (Fig. 1A). Preocular fields dark brown. Paranotal lobes of pronotum with dark brown dots. Mesonotum with dark brown spot in each anterior angle. Forewing with dark brown pattern concentrated along outer clavus margin between CuP and Pcu and in cells of corium in its apical half (Fig. 1B). Hind coxae brown posteriorly. Femora and tibiae with dark brown bands. Third tarsomeres with dark brown apical halves. Claws and dorso-lateral plates of pretarsus dark brown. Apices of spines on legs black. Each laterotergite with large dark brown to black spot. Style light yellow, with dark brown capitulum. Penis dark brown (Fig. 1D). Female (Fig. 2) similar to male. Forewing with dark brown cells along outer clavus margin and in posterior half of corium (Fig. 2A) or only with sparse dark brown spots scattered across whole wing. Visible abdominal tergites VI–VIII with dark brown spots. Gonoplacs brown (Fig. 2C–D). Anal tube with black median stripe running and expanding from paraproct to its hind margin.

EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. Metope (Figs 1C, 2B, 5B) about as wide as long, with lateral margins obtusely angular below eyes; upper margin sharply trapezoidal, concave. Median carina distinct from the level of eye middle through whole postclypeus, interrupted by metopoclypeal suture; sublateral carinae extending from upper margin of metope almost to metopoclypeal suture. Metopoclypeal suture distinct. Coryphe transverse, nearly twice as wide as long medially (Fig. 5A). Ocelli absent. Pedicel globular. Rostrum long, reaching sternite VI, not narrowing apically; second segment 0.25 times as long as third one (Fig. 5C). Pronotum wide, depressed in the middle, without carinae or with very short median carina at its hind margin (Fig. 5A). Paradiscal fields of pronotum very narrow, not visible behind eyes. Paranotal lobes nearly rectangular. Mesonotum as long as pronotum medially, with median and lateral carinae. Forewing (Fig. 4B–C) widely truncate apically, reaching hind margin of pygofer in male and surpassing hind margin of tergite VII in female. Hypocostal plate relatively wide and long, extending along three quarters of wing length. Radius and median veins running from basal cell in one short stem. R, M, CuA, and Pcu furcating apically. Hind tibia with two lateral spines in apical half and seven apical spines. First metatarsomere 1.5 times as long as second one, with two latero-apical and five intermediate spines arranged in arc. Second metatarsomere with only two latero-apical spines. Claws, in dorsal view, nearly twice as long as arolium of pretarsus, each with a single long seta. Dorso-lateral plates of pretarsus narrow.

MALE TERMINALIA (Figs 1D, 6). Anal tube, in dorsal view, wide, 0.7 times as wide as long at midline, slightly widening apically, with slightly obtusely angulate anterior margin (Fig. 6C). Anal column short and wide. Pygofer, in lateral view, narrow, with hind margins strongly convex in upper half (Fig. 6A–B). Anal tube and phallobase with well-sclerotised connection (Fig. 6F). Phallobase, in lateral view, wide, slightly enlarged apically (Fig. 6A, F). Dorso-lateral lobes of phallobase fused dorsally in one lobe with strongly convex margin (Fig. 6I); each dorso-lateral lobe with mushroom-shaped outgrowth above ventral phallobase lobe (Fig. 6F, mot). Ventral phallobase lobe short and narrow, narrowing apically (Fig. 6G, vl). Apical processes of aedeagus extending beyond phallobase margin, long and wide, each with one long spiny and several small teeth apically (Fig. 6F, aep). Ventral aedeagal hooks arising at aedeagal apex, almost as long as aedeagus, directed basally, acute apically (Fig. 6F–G, vh). Connective with large, widely opened cup. Style massive, with large curved capitulum without neck, hind margin of style straight, caudal angle rounded (Fig. 6D). Capitulum, in dorsal view, with small apical tooth and weak lateral tooth (Fig. 6E).

FEMALE TERMINALIA (Figs 2C–D, 7). Hind margin of sternite VII with two short teeth medially (Fig. 7C). Anal tube, in dorsal view, as wide as long, with hind margin concave (Fig. 7A); in lateral view, ventral part of anal tube convex (Fig. 7B). Anal column short and wide.

Distribution and ecology

So far only known from the western coast of Socotra Island, close to the cape and village of Shuab (Fig. 9). The type series was collected in coastal sand dunes and salt marshes in vegetation dominated by the semi-succulent plant species Limonium sokotranum (Vierh.) Radcl. -Sm. ( Plumbaginaceae), Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (Moric.) K. Koch (Amaranthaceae) and Zygophyllum qatarense Hadidi (Zygophyllaceae) (Fig. 10A). Most specimens were swept from L. sokotranum which might be a host plant for O. litoralis gen. et sp. nov. Another planthopper species, Haloflata arthrocnemi Świerczewski, Malenovský & Stroiński, 2017 from the family of Flatidae, co-occurred at the site (see Świerczewski et al. 2017 for details).