Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) camphorosmatis ( Emelyanov, 1964 )

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 : 260-265

6. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) camphorosmatis ( Emelyanov, 1964)

Figs. 1–2, 124–162

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) collicola Dubovsky, 1966: 107 (synonymy by Tishechkin, 2017).

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) turanica Dubovsky, 1966: 107–108 (synonymy by Tishechkin, 2017).

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) alabugensis Dubovsky, 1966: 107 . Syn. n.

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) fucata Mityaev, 1971: 93 . Syn. n.

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) subcollicola Mityaev, 1971: 93 . Syn. n.

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) camphorosmatis urdensis Mityaev, 1975: 579 . Syn. n.

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) laevis: Dubovsky, 1966: 107 (misidentification).

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) harrarensis: Logvinenko, 1984: 20 (misidentification).

Description. Penis in side view similar to that of A. (A.) laevis but with narrower shaft (Figs. 134, 136, 138, 140143, 145, 147, 149, 151, 153). Similarly to A. (A.) laevis , its dorsal margin sometimes slightly uneven, with few small denticles in middle part (Figs. 138, 141–142, 151). Male anal collar appendage blade-like, smooth, sometimes with slightly dentified ventral margin (Figs. 135, 137, 139, 144, 146, 148, 150, 152). End of appendage simple or with more or less developed beak-like process in the middle (Figs. 137, 144, 148, 150) or on dorsal margin (Fig. 146).

Biology. The species has a very wide spectrum of ecological preferences. It inhabits wet and dry meadows, steppes, and semideserts; also, is quite common on alfalfa fields. For example, in the central part of Dzhungarsky Alatau Mtn. Range it was found in the steppes at the foothills, on dry mountain slopes and in wet meadow on the riverbank in a ravine. It was collected from Asteraceae ( Artemisia , Achillea ), Chenopodiaceae (Camphorosma) and Fabaceae (cultivated alfalfa and several wild species including Trifolium ).

Calling signal. Signals of males from the following localities were investigated.

1. Russia, Lower Volga Region, Saratov Oblast, Dyakovka Village ca. 35 km SSW of Krasny Kut, from Artemisia subg. Seriphidium in the steppe, 10. VII. 2004, signals of one male recorded at 26–27 oC .

2. Southern Kazakhstan, Chu-Ili Mts. West of Korday Pass (ca. 170 km West of Almaty), steppe on mountain slope, from Achillea sp. ( Asteraceae ), 10. VI. 2017, signals of three males recorded at 28 oC.

FIGURES 134–162. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) camphorosmatis , male genitalia. 134, 136, 138, 140–143, 145, 147, 149, 151, 153–154, 156–157, 160, 162―penis, lateral view, 135, 137, 139, 144, 146, 148, 150, 152, 155, 158–159, 161―male anal collar appendage. 154–159―after Mityaev (1971), 160–161―after Mityaev (1975), 162―after Logvinenko (1984).

3. Southern Kazakhstan, wet meadow in the floodplain of the Kaskelen River , NE Chemolgan (=Shamalgan), on herbaceous Fabaceae , 11. VI. 2017, signals of three males recorded at 31 oC .

4. Southern Kazakhstan, Karaoy Village (ca. 30 km North of Almaty), steppe vegetation on the bank of the Kaskelen River , 12. VI. 2017, signals of two males recorded at 24 oC .

5. Southern Kazakhstan, 37 km North of Kapchagay, the road to Bakanas, the gorge on low mountain range in the desert, Artemisia (subg. Dracunculus ), 14. VI. 2017, signals of three males recorded at 36 oC.

6. Southern Kazakhstan, Eastern part of Zailiysky Alatau Mtn. Range, environs of Tauturgen Village (ca. 60 km East of Almaty), polydominant steppe vegetation on mountain slope, 29. VI. 2019, signals of two males recorded at 31 oC .

7. Southern Kazakhstan, 25 km SW Saryozek by the road to Kapchagay, Arkharly Pass, steppe on the mountain slope, 16. VI. 2017, signals of one male recorded at 30 oC .

8. Southeastern Kazakhstan, steppes at the foothills of Dzhungarsky Alatau Mtn. Range ca. 20 km West of Zhansagurov Village, Artemisia (subg. Seriphidium) and Camphorosma sp., 14. VI. 2019, signals of one male recorded at 28 oC.

9. Southeastern Kazakhstan, Dzhungarsky Alatau Mtn. Range East of Zhansagurov Village, 15. VI. 2019, (a) Artemisia (subg. Seriphidium) on dry mountain slope, signals of one male recorded at 28 oC; (b) wet meadow in the gorge on the riverbank, signals of one male recorded at 25 oC .

10. Kyrgyzstan, Southern shore of Toktogul Reservoir, from Artemisia (subg. Seriphidium) in the semidesert, 18. VII. 2016, signals of one male recorded at 28 oC .

11. Kyrgyzstan, 20 km West of Osh, alfalfa field, 19. VII. 2016, signals of one male recorded at 28 oC .

12. Kyrgyzstan, Alay Mtn. Range, ca. 25 km SE Kyzyl-Kiya, Abshirsay Gorge , pasture on the riverbank, 15. VII. 2014, signals of three males recorded at 38 oC .

13. Kyrgyzstan, Alay Mtn. Range, Kurshab River Valley , ca. 10 km NW Gul’cha Town, pasture on the riverbank, 5. VII. 2014, signals of two males recorded at 28 oC .

General structure of the calling signal is the same as in A. (A.) venosa , A. (A.) chalchica , and A. (A.) laevis ( Figs. 124–128 ), but the temporal pattern of the second part is different ( Figs. 129–133 ). Syllables in the second part consist of one lower- and one higher-amplitude pulse each; amplitude relation between pulses can vary considerably (cf. Figs. 130 and 132 ). Syllable repetition period averages 45–56/s at 25–31 oC. Signals of males from different localities do not have significant differences.

Distribution. Bulgaria, Southern Ukraine, Crimea, Transcaucasia ( Armenia), Lower Volga Region of Russia, Western, Central, Southern, and Southeastern Kazakhstan, the steppe zone of West Tien Shan and Alay Mts. in Kyrgyzstan.

Remarks. This species was described from Central Kazakhstan, the environs of Zhana-Arka Railway Station, ca. 160 km SW Karaganda ( Emelyanov, 1964). Identification of this species is based on investigation of male paratype and topotype (male, collected in the same locality and at the same date, but lacking paratype label) with labels “Koksengir [Hills], S [Railway Station] Zhana-Arka, Karagand[a] Obl[ast], Emelyanov, 17. VI. [1]959” (printed, in Russian, date and month handwritten, our comments in square brackets) and “ Camphorosma monspeliacum ” (printed); paratype also bears red label “ Paratypus Agallia camphorosmatis Emelyanov ” (first word printed, species name and author handwritten) (Figs. 134–137).

Two years later Dubovsky (1966) in his monograph on Auchenorrhyncha of Ferghana Valley listed four morphologically similar species, three of which, A. (A.) collicola Dubovsky, 1966 , A. (A.) turanica Dubovsky, 1966 , and A. (A.) alabugensis Dubovsky, 1966 , were described as new. Remarkably, all three new species were collected in the same locality, Alabuka Village, West Tien Shan in the same short period, 1–5. VI. 1961.

Mityaev (1971, 1975) used the same approach to species delimitation and described two more similar species, A. (A.) fucata Mityaev, 1971 and A. (A.) subcollicola Mityaev, 1971 , and one subspecies, A. (A.) camphorosmatis urdensis Mityaev, 1975, based on minor differences in apodeme and genitalia shape. In Mityaev (2002), the latter taxon is listed as a species, A. (A.) urdensis Mityaev, 1975, without explanations concerning the change of its rank.

Our investigations in Western Kyrgyzstan showed that the three taxa described by Dubovsky (1966) are conspecific; as a first reviser we chose for this species the valid name A. (A.) alabugensis ( Tishechkin, 2017) . Comparison of signal recordings from different localities showed that, in addition to Kyrgyzstan, this species is distributed also in the Lower Volga Region of Russia. The latter record gave reason to believe that it is also widespread in Kazakhstan. Indeed, this species turned out to be the most common throughout southern Kazakhstan, both in the plains and in the mountains in a wide variety of biotopes from wet riverine meadows to steppes and semideserts; the conspeci-ficity of males from different localities and biotopes is confirmed by signal analysis ( Figs. 124–133 ). Comparison of genitalia in undoubtedly conspecific males, producing identical signals shows that minor differences in their shape is a result of intraspecific variability.

A. (A.) fucata was described based on one male from the environs of Zhansagurov Village in the foothills of the central part of Dzhungarsky Alatau Mtn. Range in southern Kazakhstan (Figs. 154–155). In the environs of Zhansagurov we collected Anaceratagallia in the steppe at the foothills on Artemisia subg. Seriphidium and Camphorosma , in the steppe on the mountain slope and on a wet meadow on the riverbank. Males from all samples produced similar signals and belong to A. (A.) camphorosmatis .

According to the original description, A. (A.) subcollicola is a variable species; it is widespread throughout all southern and southeastern Kazakhstan ( Mityaev, 2002). From the drawings by Mityaev (1971) (reproduced as Figs. 156–159) it is obvious that this taxon is identical to A. (A.) camphorosmatis . In addition, investigations of the signals in eight localities in southern and southeastern Kazakhstan revealed no species morphologically similar to or indistinguishable from A. (A.) camphorosmatis .

A. (A.) camphorosmatis urdensis was described from the environs of Urda in western Kazakhstan, ca. 50 km from the border of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. According to the original description, it differs from the nominotypical subspecies by the narrower penis stem and by the male anal collar appendage with a narrower basal part and less pointed tip (Figs. 160–161). In fact, such shape of the anal collar appendage is typical for this species and can be found in populations from many regions (for example, cf. Figs. 135, 139, and 161). Males with a narrow penis also can be found in many populations (cf. Figs. 153 and 160); at the same time, we have not found such males in the Lower Volga Region , i.e. in the population nearest to the type locality. This proves that A. (A.) camphorosmatis urdensis is not a geographical subspecies but only a local or even individual variant .

For this reason, we consider the three taxa described by Dubovsky (1966) and the three taxa described by Mityaev (1971, 1975) as junior synonyms of A. (A.) camphorosmatis .

Logvinenko (1984) recorded A. (A.) harrarensis ( Melichar, 1911) from the Black Sea Coast of Ukraine and from Crimea, but judging by the drawing in her article (reproduced as Fig. 162), this record refers to A. (A.) camphorosmatis .

Figures

FIGURES 118–133. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) spp., calling signal oscillograms. 118–123―A. (A.) laevis, 124–133― A. (A.) camphorosmatis. Faster oscillograms of the parts of signals indicated as “121–123” and “129–133”are given under the same numbers. 118–119, 121–122―male from West Tien Shan, locality No. 1 in the list in calling signal description, 120, 123―male from Batken Oblast, ibid., locality No. 2, 124, 129―male from Saratov Oblast, ibid., locality No. 1, 125, 130―male from Kaskelen River, Southern Kazakhstan, ibid., locality No. 3, 126, 131―male from Zhansagurov, South-eastern Kazakhstan, steppe, ibid., locality No. 9, 127, 132―same locality, male from wet meadow on the riverbank, 128, 133―male from Toktogul Reservoir, Kyrgyzstan, ibid., locality No. 10.