Cicada melanoptera Gmelin, 1789

Sanborn, Allen F., 2020, The cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of Suriname including the description of two new species, five new combinations, and three new records, Zootaxa 4881 (3), pp. 453-481 : 474

Cicada melanoptera Gmelin, 1789

Cicada marginata Degeer 1773: 226 , Pl. 33, Fig. 14. ( Surinam)

Cicada marginata Goeze 1778: 160 .

Cicada marginata Goeze 1780: 147 , Pl. 33, Fig. 14.

C[icada] marginata Retzius 1783: 83 .

[ Cicada] melanoptera Gmelin 1789 nom. nov. pro Cicada marginata Degeer 1773 nec Cicada marginata Sulzer, 1761: 2116 . [ Cicada] melanoptera Turton 1806: 602 .

Cicada melanoptera Sherborn 1902: 586 .

Cicada melanoptera Metcalf 1963b: 829–830 .

Remarks. The species description is of a brown cicada with a yellow longitudinal stripe on each side and black hind wings ( Degeer 1773). Degeer (1773) describes the species as similar in appearance and size to A. collaris n. comb. with the ends of the fore wings dark red and small brown spots on the body and a yellow stripes by the wing borders, on each side of the head, thorax and abdomen. The presence of two small eyes (ocelli) on the dorsal head prohibits the species from being classified within the Cicadidae . The narrow, elongated wings and rounded postclypeus suggest this is also a species of Cicadellidae . The wide head described by Degeer (1773) and coloration pattern suggest a species similar to Homalodisca lucernaria ( Linnaeus, 1758) ( Cicadellidae : Cicadellinae : Proconiini ) also from Suriname. Therefore, based on these similarities, Cicada melanoptera Gmelin, 1789 (= Cicada marginata Degeer, 1773 is reassigned here to become Homalodisca melanoptera ( Gmelin 1789) n. comb.

Distribution. The species has been reported only from Suriname ( Metcalf 1963b).