Chinaocerus Zhang & Li

Dang, Li-Hong, Zhang, Bin & Li, Zi-Zhong, 2016, Studies on idiocerine leafhoppers with descriptions of Chinaocerus gen. nov. and three new species from China (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadellidae), Zootaxa 4088 (2), pp. 236-244 : 237

Chinaocerus Zhang & Li gen. nov.

Type species. Chinaocerus bispinatus Zhang & Li sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized leafhoppers. Length usually from 5.8 to 6.2 mm.

Coloration. General color yellowish brown to pale brown, with black to dark brown markings on face, pronotum and scutellum.

Morphology. Head wider than pronotum. Vertex shagreen, anterior margin in dorsal view convexly rounded, posterior margin parallel to anterior margin. Face slightly wider across eyes than long. Ocelli near or above ends of fronal sutures, closer to adjacent eyes than to each other. Anteclypeus projecting beyond genae, expanded apically, lateral margins slightly concave at midlength. Antenna with distal part of flagellum dilatated in male. Lora small, slightly elevated above level of genae. Pronotum with anterior margin convexly rounded, lateral margins moderately long, posterior margin slightly concave. Scutellum subtriangular, slightly broader than long, and slightly longer than pronotum. Forewings with 4 apical cells and 3 subapical cells, outer subapical cell smallest, central and outer cells closed, inner subapical cell opened; appendix moderately broad. Hind femoral macrosetae 2+0, hind tibial macrosetae PD14–17, AD5–6, AV7–8. Hind basitarsus with three platellae on distal transverse row.

Male genitalia. Pygofer elongate and narrow, with dorsal anterior apodeme poorly developed, distinctly finely dentate along caudoventral margin, without ventral process. Anal collar well developed with narrow and elongate processes. Subgenital plates elongate with long fine setae. Male valve distinctly wider than long, anterior margin straight, posterior margin undulate with rounded median projection. Style long, apophysis evenly curved, and usually bearing a row of fine lateral setae. Connective five-lobed, heavily pigmented. Aedeagus with prominent basal apodeme expanded laterad, aedeagal shaft tubular and slightly compressed, with pair of subapical processes, gonopore situated subapically on posterior surface.

Female genitalia. Female ovipositor strongly projecting beyond pygofer. Sternite VII convexly produced, posterior margin of median area narrowly concave in ventral view. Second valvula regularly broadened in lateral view, bearing approximately 15–27 teeth along dorsal margin.

Notes. Chinaocerus resembles Idiocerus Lewis , but differs in having the caudoventral margin of the male pygofer dentate, a pair of subapical processes arising from the ventral surface of the aedeagal shaft and the female with a more elongate ovipositor.

Key to males of Chinaocerus

1. Aedeagal shaft dorsally curved, with pair of slender distal processes and pair of lateral lamellae at midlength............ 2

- Aedeagal shaft nearly straight, with two unequal pairs of slender distal processes, midlength of shaft without lamellae................................................................................................ C. shii sp. nov.

2. Aedeagal shaft with pair of small toothlike processes above gonopore........................ C. kangdingensis sp. nov.

- Aedeagal shaft with pair of long distal processes and pair of small spinelike processes more basad.... C. bispinatus sp. nov.