Colpoptera stonei Bahder & Bartlett, sp. nov., 2024

Barrantes Barrantes, Edwin A., Zumbado Echavarria, Marco A., Van Dam, Alex R., Helmick, Ericka E., Bartlett, Charles R., Martinez Aponte, Laura V., Ruiz, Alfredo Rodriguez, Bloch, Melody & Bahder, Brian W., 2024, A new species of planthopper in the genus Colpoptera (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Nogodinidae) from the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, Zootaxa 5481 (3), pp. 341-352 : 345-350

Colpoptera stonei Bahder & Bartlett, sp. nov.

( Figures 2–6 )

Type locality. Manzanillo , Limón Province, Costa Rica (9.631917, -84.672517) ( Fig. 1 ) .

Etymology. The specific epithet ‘ stonei ’ is a patronym in honor of Dan and Eugene Stone, very close friends (almost older brothers) to the senior author. Their friendship, comedic relief, being fellow bandmates in Shutter and overall love and support was instrumental in his development and success in early academic years. Rock on Dan and Eugene!

Diagnosis. Pale species, body generally uniformly testaceous, slight fuscous mottling on pronotum and mesonotum, forewing transparent, slight fuscous patch at apex, face without markings.Aedeagus lightly sclerotized, nearly symmetrical, pair of strongly bifurcated dorsal processes of moderate length arising subapically on lateral margins with ventral bifurcations emerging mesad near midline (not on outer lateral margin) and pair of shorter, curved processes on ventral margin.

Description. Pale species, body generally uniformly testaceous, slight fuscous mottling on pronotum and mesonotum, forewing transparent, slight fuscous patch at apex, face without markings ( Fig. 2 ).

Structure. Body length with with wings; males (n =4) 4.2–4.3 mm, females (n= 6) 4.4–4.6 ( Table 3 ).

Head. In dorsal view, vertex nearly rectangular, anterior margin linear, approximately level with anterior margin of eyes, posterior margin concave, median carina present, transverse carina at fastigium evident ( Fig. 3A ). In lateral view, generally rounded, slightly angled at fastigium, vertex slightly projected above eyes, frons curved dorsad, becoming linear near ventral margin of eyes ( Fig. 3B ). In frontal view, transverse carina at fastigium evident, lateral margins expanding from dorsal margin, reaching widest point just below antennae then constricting strongly, frontoclypeal suture curved dorsad ( Fig. 3C ).

Thorax. Pronotum in dorsal view widest at midpoint with anterior margin moderately convex, posterior margin moderately concave, tricarinate, carina at midline continuous from anterior to posterior margin, lateral carinae extending from anterior margin of pronotum, laterad, becoming obsolete ventrally ( Fig. 3A ). Mesonotum approximately as wide as long at midpoint, tricarinate at anterior margin, two additional carinae arising at mid carina near anterior margin, extending diagonally to just beyond lateral carinae, slightly sinuate ( Fig. 3A ). In lateral view, greatly raised, angled where diagonal carinae arise at mid carina ( Fig. 3B ). Hind tibiae with single lateral spine approximately 2/3 distance from femoral-tibial joint, spinulation 6-7-2.

Forewing reticulate, broadest basally, constricting at claval apex, expanding slightly, apex broadly rounded ( Fig. 4 ).

Male terminalia. Pyfoger in lateral view nearly uniform width along entire length, anterior margin sinuate, slightly concave, posterior margin nearly linear, dorsal and ventral margin equal length, slightly sinuate, medioventral process lacking ( Fig. 5 ). Gonostyli in lateral view generally rounded with large dorsal process arising basally, with helical sclerotized ridges, apex blunt with posterior corner rounded, anterior corner hooked ( Fig. 5 ). Aedeagus nearly symmetrical with three pairs of processes ( Fig. 6 ); first pair (A1 & A2) arising on subapical lateral margin, angled dorsad and cephalad, both processes straight, slightly more sclerotized than rest of aedeagus ( Fig. 6A, B ), second pair (A3 & A4) arising on inner ventral margin just basad of A1 and A2, angled dorsad and cephalad, slightly curved mesad, apices barely crossing at midpoint, approximately twice the length of A1 and A2 ( Fig. 6C ). Third pair (A5 & A6) arising on ventral margin midline, short, slightly curved distad from base, equally sclerotized relative to A1–A4, approximately half length of A1 and A2 ( Fig. 6C, D ). Anal segment elongate, irregularly sinuate on dorsal and ventral margins, dorsal margin angled ventrad approximately ¼ from base, ventral margin with strong invagination approximately 2/3 from base, apex distad of invagination comma-shaped.

Distribution. Manzanillo, Limón Province, Costa Rica; Almonds and Corals Hotel.

Type material. Holotype, male “ Costa Rica, Limón Pr. / nr. Manzanillo / 16.VI.2018 / sweeping weeds / Coll.: B.W.Bahder // Holotype / Colpoptera stonei ♂ ” ( FLREC).

Paratypes: 2 male and 4 females same as Holotype, 1 male and 2 females from La Sleva Biological Station , Heredia Province, 20.VI.2018 .

Plant associations. Unknown, collected sweeping herbaceous weeds.

Sequence Data. For the COI gene, a 657 bp product was generated (GenBank Accession No. PP378885), for the 18S gene, a 1,265 bp product (GenBank Accession No. PP386391) was generated and for the 28S D9– D10 expansion region, a 829 bp product was generated (GenBank Accession No. PP386392). The phylogenies constructed demonstrate strong bootstrap support for the monophyly of Colpoptera based on 18S, 28S, COI data and concatenated sequences of the three loci (100, 99 and 80, respectively) with Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. resolving within this clade ( Fig. 7 ).

Remarks. The general habitus of Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. appears similar to many described species of Colpoptera and both the form of the terminalia and geography appear to exclude the other described genera in the Colpopterini (most genera are Antillean). The closest species in terms of coloration and general form of the aedeagus appears to be C. albavenosa Caldwell from San Luis Potosí in northern Mexico ( Caldwell 1945, plate IV, fig. 2). However, Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. differs from C. albavenosa in the anal segment where C. albavenosa is noted as having a nearly straight segment whereas Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. has deep invaginations on the ventral margin.Also, the processes on the aedeagus of C. albavenosa are noted as subequal in length whereas the difference in size is substantial in Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. (also Caldwell, 1945, depicts three processes on each side of the aedeagus for albavenosa rather than two per side for C. stonei sp. nov.). Finally, the gonostyli in C. albavenosa are shown as elongated, hooked, and narrow where they are stout with helical ridges C. stonei sp. nov. Another species with similar form in the terminalia is C. acutata Caldwell. The general armature of the aedeagus in general is similar, however, in C. stonei sp. nov. the ventral bifurcation of the processes arises mesad and in C. acutata (based on the description) appear to arise on the lateral margins. Additionally, C. acutata is described as a red-brown species with white spots on the frons whereas C. stonei sp. nov. is not red-brown and has an unmarked frons. Finally, the apex of the anal segment in C. acutata appears narrowed and slightly hooked based on the description and it is much broaded and not hooked in C. stonei sp. nov.

While molecular data is useful for elucidating Colpoptera , very little data is available for other nogodinids taxa that would allow for generating a consensus tree among COI, 18S, and 28S. As new taxa are discovered and previously described taxa become available for analysis, this shortcoming can be addressed.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitat and locality of Colpoptera stonei sp. nov.; red circle = Heredia locality, orange circle = Limón locality, habitat photo from Limón locality.

FIGURE 2. Adult habitus Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. (A) Male lateral view; (B) male dorsal view.

FIGURE 3. Adult Colpoptera stonei sp. nov.; (A) Head, pronotum, mesonotum dorsal view; (B) head and pronotum lateral view;(C) head frontal view. Scale = 1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Forewing venation of Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. Vein labeling nomenclature following Bourgoin et al. (2015).

FIGURE 5. Adult male Colpoptera stonei sp. nov., terminalia in left lateral view.

FIGURE 6. Aedeagus of Colpoptera stonei sp. nov.: (A) right lateral view; (B) left lateral view; (C) dorsal view; (D) ventral view.

FIGURE 7. Maximum Likelihood trees (1,000 replicates) exhibiting relationship of Colpoptera stonei sp. nov. to available nogodinid taxa: (A) 18S, (B) 28S, (C) COI and (D) consensus tree based on concatenated data for the three loci; scale bar = percent nucleotide difference.