Macropsidius karatavicus, Tishechkin, 2022

Tishechkin, Dmitri Yu., 2022, Macropsidius bogutensis (Mityaev, 1990) species group (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae: Eurymelinae: Macropsini) in Kazakhstan: taxonomy, biology, and evolution, Zootaxa 5165 (3), pp. 405-414 : 406

Macropsidius karatavicus sp. n.

Figs. 1–23

Material examined. Holotype, ♂, Southern Kazakhstan, southeastern part of Syrdaryinskiy Karatau Mtn. Range, Sayasay (=Sayasuu) Gorge, ca. 50 km west of Taraz, 42.894 N, 70.715 E, Artemisia (Seriphidium) juncea on stony slopes, D. Tishechkin, 13. VI. 2016, calling signals recorded at 32–33 o C; paratypes: 13 ♂, 19 ♀, same locality, host, and date, calling signals of 5 ♂ recorded at 32–33 o C.

Description. Similar in appearance to other species of Macropsidius ( Figs. 1–5 ). Pale yellowish brown with black spots on head, pro-, and mesonotum. Shape and location of spots typical for genus. Black pattern moderately developed, all spots separated from each other, specimens with partially merged spots absent in material studied. Forewings semitransparent, most veins of same color as membrane, veins of clavus and some other longitudinal veins sometimes milky white, especially, in basal parts. Anal margin, claval suture and, occasionally, apical margin and some cells darkened. Females usually lighter than males, with ovipositor sometimes extending beyond resting forewings.

Pygofer appendages do not reach dorsal margin of pygofer, slightly S-shaped, sometimes, with sharply narrowed tip ( Figs. 6–7 ). Aedeagal shaft with very wide lateral carinae in basal half ( Figs. 8–10 ), moderately developed ventral carina running along all shaft from base to gonopore ( Figs. 11–15 ), and with one or several small denticles on each side near apex. Ventral and lateral carinae perpendicular to each other ( Figs. 11–12 ); for this reason, ventral carina hardly distinguishable in back view ( Figs. 8–10 ) and, vice versa, lateral carinae almost invisible in lateral view ( Figs. 13–15 ). Styles with lobe-like rounded or somewhat angular tips ( Figs. 16–18 ).

Body length: ♂, 3.1–3.4 mm; ♀, 3.4–4.2 mm.

Diagnosis. In external appearance, indistinguishable from most other members of the genus Macropsidius . Differs from M. araxes Dlabola, 1961 , M. valiturus Dlabola, 1963 , and M. kajkanus ( Figs. 70–71 ), which also have one ventral and two lateral carinae on the aedeagus, in having very wide lateral carinae. In addition, M. araxes and M. valiturus were recorded only from Eastern Caucasus (Dagestan), Transcaucasia, and Iran, so their close relationship with species from Kazakhstan is dubious. Very similar to M. bogutensis but differing in the evenly curved ventral carina of the aedeagus almost reaching the gonopore ( Figs. 11–15 ) (strongly narrowed in apical half and usually almost reduced before gonopore in M. bogutensis ; Figs. 42–54 ). Also, distinctly differs from M. bogutensis in male calling signal pattern ( Figs. 19–23 and 24–28 ).

Hosts. Adult specimens were collected from A. (Seriphidium) juncea on stony slopes ( Fig. 74 ) and were not found on other species of Artemisia (Seriphidium) growing nearby.

Calling signal. Male calling signal is a short phrase lasting from 2.5 s, up to 8–9 s and consisting of 3–6 syllables in the recordings ( Figs. 19–23 ). Syllable consists of 11–18 similar pulses and has duration of 0.37– 0.75 s. As a rule, pulse repetition period decreases towards the end of syllable. Occasionally, a train of pulses precedes or follows the sequence of syllables ( Fig. 20 ).

Distribution. Possibly, endemic to Syrdaryinskiy Karatau Range in Southern Kazakhstan.

Etymology. The species name derives from the name of the mountain range, where it was collected.

Figures

FIGURES 1–18. Macropsidius karatavicus sp. n. 1–2―male, dorsal view, 3―same, female, 4―male, face, 5―same, fe- male, 6–7―pygofer appendage, 8–10―penis, back view, 11–12―same, frontal and lateral view, 13–15―same, lateral view, 16–18―style.

FIGURES 19–33. Macropsidius spp., calling signal oscillograms. 19–23―M. karatavicus sp. n., 24–28―M. bogutensis, 29– 33―M. kajkanus. Faster oscillograms of the parts of signals indicated as “21–22”, “26–28”, and “32–33” are given under the same numbers.

FIGURES 63–76. 63―paratype of M. bogutensis, style, 64―same, male from the type locality, 65―same, drawing from the original description (after Mityaev, 1990), 66–68―same, males from Dzhungarskiy Alatau (M. zhuravlevi sensu Mityaev, 2014), 69―same, drawing from the original description of M. zhuravlevi (after Mityaev, 2014), 70―M. kajkanus, penis, back view, 71―same, frontal and lateral view, 72―same, lateral view, 73―distribution map of species of the M. bogutensis group, 74–76―biotopes,where insects were collected; localities, where photos were taken are shown with arrows, the whitish green plant in the center of each photo is Artemisia (Seriphidium) juncea.

FIGURES 34–62. Macropsidius bogutensis. 34–41―penis, back view, 42–45―same, frontal and lateral view, 46–54―same, lateral view, 55–62―pygofer appendage. 34, 42, 46, 55―paratype, 35, 43, 47, 56―male from the type locality, 36, 48, 57― drawings from the original description (after Mityaev, 1990), 37–40, 44–45, 49–53, 58–61―males from Dzhungarskiy Alatau Range (M. zhuravlevi sensu Mityaev, 2014), 41, 54, 62―drawings from the original description of M. zhuravlevi (after Mityaev, 2014).