Trocnada minuta Evans

Dai, Wu & Dietrich, Christopher H., 2012, Review of the Australian leafhopper genus Trocnada with notes on related genera (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Iassinae), Zootaxa 3209, pp. 53-66 : 57-58

Trocnada minuta Evans

Figs. 2 E – J, 5A – H, 8C, 8G

Trocnada minuta Evans 1936: 78 ; Evans 1966: 209.

Description. Body length (including tegmen): male 4.7 – 5.2mm, female, 6.8 – 7.3mm.

Head ochreous. Pronotum reddish-brown with round black lateral spot, small red spots present in some individuals. Scutellum dark brown. Tegmen hyaline brown, veins pinkish ( Fig. 1 E-J).

Female hind femur macrosetae 2+2+1 with antepenultimate seta smaller than others; tibial rows PD, AD, and AV with 16, 12, and 14 macrosetae, respectively; male hind femur macrosetae 2+2 with antepenultimate seta as large as others; tibial rows PD, AD, and AV with 12, 7, and 9 macrosetae, respectively.

Male pygofer ventral process with ventral lobe blunt, somewhat falcate ( Fig. 5 A, E). Style apophysis bluntly rounded apically ( Fig. 5 D). Connective stem broad only slightly widened posteriorly ( Fig. 5 F). Aedeagus tubular, with short preatrium, pair of long slender processes arising at base diverging slightly from shaft distally and widened apically; shaft curved dorsally in lateral view, base broader than apical region in lateral aspect, apex truncate with pair of long slender divergent and weakly serrate processes distad of gonopore; small or process (variable in size among examined specimens) on each side of gonopore; gonopore apical ( Fig. 5 G – H).

Female sternite VII with posterior emargination sharply angulate ( Fig. 8 C). Second valvulae moderately broad, distal section of blades beyond dorsal teeth smooth or serrate, slightly longer or slightly shorter than distance between teeth, dorsal margin between teeth irregular ( Fig. 8 H).

Material examined. Australia: Australian Capital Territory: 13, Black Mt. Light trap., 1 Feb 1957, I.F.B. Common; 1Ƥ, Barry Dr. nr. Black Mt., 2 Feb 1984, J. James. New South Wales: 13 Moree, W.W.F[roggatt]. Queensland: 13, 1Ƥ, 15.16S 144.59E 14km, W by N of Hope Vale Mission, 8-10 Oct. 1980, T. Weir; 1Ƥ, Bundaberg, Baldwin Swamp Fauna Reserve, July 1971, H. Frauca. Sweeping, Tea Tree bushland; Isabella Creek 32 km WNW Cooktown, 230 m, 15.18ºS 145.00ºE, 22 May 1977, I.F.B. Common & E.D. Edwards; 1Ƥ, 1 km SE Mt. Cook, 15.305ºS 145.16ºE, T. Weir (ANIC); 13, Lot 22 Mt. Berryman, Rd. Laidley, 3 Nov. 1990. at light, W. F. Chamberlain; 1Ƥ, Mossman, 11 Nov. 90, at light, W. F. Chamberlain (INHS). Tasmania: 2Ƥ, 13 mls. S. Westbury, 4 Mar. 1963, I.F.B. Common & M.S. Upton. Western Australia: 1Ƥ, Karridale, Deep Dene, 16 2 1963, L.M. O’Halloran; 1Ƥ, 7 km NE Eucla Pass, 31.40ºS 128.57ºE, 29 April 1984, E.S. Nielsen, E.D. Edwards (ANIC).

Distribution. Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania

Host plant. Tea Tree ( Leptospermum sp.).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dorsal and lateral habitus of Trocnada dorsigera Walker [(A – H) female; (I – J) male].

FIGURE 2. Dorsal and lateral habitus. (A – D) Trocnada alpina; [(A – B) female; (C – D) male]; (E – J) Trocnada minuta [(E – H) female; (I – J) male].

FIGURE 5. Trocnada minuta Evans (A) Pygofer, lateral view. (B) Pygofer, ventral view. (C) Subgenital plate, ventral view. (D) Style, lateral view. (E) Pygofer ventral process, lateral view. (F) Connective. (G) Aedeagus, lateral view. (H) Aedeagus, caudal view.

FIGURE 8. Trocnada females. (A) Sternite VII, T. dorsigera; (B) same, T. alpina; (C) same, T. minuta. (D) First valvula, T. alpina; (E) detail of dorsal sculpturing. (F) second valvula, T. dorsigera; (G) same, T. alpina; (H) same, T. minuta.