Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) harrarensis ( Melichar, 1911 )

Tishechkin, Dmitri Yu., 2020, Review of the leafhopper genus Anaceratagallia Zachvatkin, 1946 (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae: Megophthalminae: Agalliini) from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia, Zootaxa 4821 (2), pp. 250-276 : 265-268

7. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) harrarensis ( Melichar, 1911)

Figs. 4, 163–176, 189–190

Agallia halophila Lindberg, 1954: 197–198 .

Agallia halophila brevispina Linnavuori, 1956: 162–163 .

Anaceratagallia halophila iranicola Dlabola, 1960: 8 .

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) mangyschlaki Mityaev, 1969a: 365–366 . Syn. n.

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) caesia Mityaev, 1969a: 366 . Syn. n.

Description. Unlike other species, which are similar to each other in coloration, A. (A.) harrarensis is distinctly lighter, with less developed dark pattern (Fig. 4). Penis similar to that of A. (A.) camphorosmatis , but stem slightly narrower and directed obliquely upwards ( Figs. 163, 165, 167, 169, 171 ). Male anal collar appendage smooth, gradually extends distally and sharply tapers in last one-fourth, its apical part asymmetrical, with pointed tip on dorsal side ( Figs. 164, 168, 172 ) or in dorsal half ( Figs. 166, 170 ).

Biology. In the Canary Islands A. (A.) harrarensis was collected on halophytic Chenopodiaceae ( Lindberg, 1954) . In Turkmenistan was collected at light in salty clay desert. In general, all records of this species are confined to the desert zone.

Calling signal. Signals of one male from Southern Turkmenistan (Dushak Village ca. 170 km South-east of Ashgabad, collected at light, 24. V. 1990, recording at 28 oC) were investigated .

General structure of the calling signal is the same as in A. (A.) venosa , A. (A.) chalchica , A. (A.) laevis , and A. (A.) camphorosmatis ( Fig. 189 ), but its second part consists of simple pulses, following each other at a rate of about 35/s in our recordings ( Fig. 190 ).

Distribution. Desert zone of Western Palaearctic: Canary Islands, northern Africa, deserts of western and southwestern Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran, possibly, also India; in the South it is distributed outside the Palaearctic in Ethiopia. The record from Ukraine by Logvinenko (1984) in fact belongs to A. (A.) camphorosmatis (see above).

Remarks. This species was described from Harrar, Ethiopia ( Melichar, 1911). Later it was described by Lindberg (1954) from the Canary Islands under the name Agallia halophila Lindberg, 1954 ; also, two subspecies, A. (A.) halophila brevispina Linnavuori, 1956 from Melilla, Spanish Morocco (based on one male) and A. (A.) halophila iranicola Dlabola, 1960 from Iran were described. A. halophila was placed in synonymy under A. (A.) harrarensis by Heller and Linnavuori (1968).

Mityaev (1969a) described two species, A. (A.) mangyschlaki Mityaev, 1969 and A. (A.) caesia Mityaev, 1969 , from the deserts of Kazakhstan; both original descriptions are based on single males. From the illustrations (reproduced as Figs. 173–176 ) it is clear, that both specimens fall into the variability range of A. (A.) harrarensis from Turkmenistan and Iran.

Also, two more taxa similar to A. (A.) harrarensis were described as follows:

Agallia leda Linnavuori, 1971 – from Tunisia, based on one male, which differs from typical A. (A.) harrarensis by the somewhat wider penis in side view and another shape of male anal collar appendage.

A. (A.) pararobusta (Pruthi, 1936) – from India which is almost identical to A. (A.) harrarensis in genitalia structure ( Viraktamath, 2011 and our data; Figs. 177–180 ). Apparently, the same species is illustrated by Khatri et al. (2010) under the name Agallia robusta Pruthi, 1930 ( Figs. 181–182 ).

Since some species of Anaceratagallia are difficult to distinguish by morphology, although they differ well in signal temporal pattern, the establishment of synonymy of the two above listed taxa with A. (A.) harrarensis without acoustic or molecular studies would seem to be premature.

Figures

FIGURES 163–188. Male genitalia. 163–176―Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) harrarensis, 177–180―A. (A.) pararobusta, 181–182―A. (A.) robusta sensu Khatri et al., 2010, 183–188―A. (A.) frisia. 163, 165, 167, 169, 171, 173, 175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187―penis, lateral view, 164, 166, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 188―male anal col- lar appendage. 173–176―after Mityaev (1969a), 179–180―after Viraktamath (2011), 181–182―after Khatri et al. (2010), 187–188―after Wagner (1939).

FIGURES 189–203. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) spp., calling signal oscillograms. 189–190―A. (A.) harrarensis, 191– 193―A. (A.) ribauti, 194–198―A. (A.) fragariae, 199–203―A. (A.) aciculata. Faster oscillograms of the parts of signals indicated as “190”, “192–193”, “197–198”, “200”, and “202–203” are given under the same numbers. 194–195, 197―male from Moscow Oblast, locality No. 1 in the list in calling signal description, 196, 198―male from Kazakhstan, ibid., locality No. 2, 199–200, 202―male from Astrakhan Oblast, ibid., locality No. 1, 201, 203―male from Saratov Oblast, ibid., locality No. 2.