Murmurillana paenetacita Delorme

Delorme, Quentin, Mille, Christian & Jourdan, Hervé, 2016, Description of a new genus and two new species of high frequency cicada from New Caledonia (Insecta: Hemiptera, Cicadoidea, Cicadidae), Zootaxa 4126 (4), pp. 563-576 : 570-574

Murmurillana paenetacita Delorme sp. nov.

( Figs. 7–11 )

Material examined. Holotype male ( MNHN 19287) and 1 paratype male ( MNHN 19288), Nouvelle-Calédonie, Province Nord, Hienghène, Mont Panié refuge Blaffart (570 m), (S 20°37’ E 164°46’), 25/II/2013, Quentin Delorme rec, caught by net. Coll. MNHN, Paris.

Measurements (in mm, holotype and paratype): FL: 16.2–16.4, FW: 5.6–5.3, HW: 4.8–4.7, HL: 1.5–1.5, BL: 12.8–12.7, PL: 2–2, PW: 3.8–3.8.

Description of male ( Figs. 7–10 ). This new species is very similar to M. inaudibilis but differs mainly in male calling song and in the shape of the claspers.

Head. Vertex brownish bearing short scattered golden hairs; ocelli pink; each ocellus set on wide black spot. Epicranial suture deep and brown. Compound eyes brownish, prominent, wider than long. Dorsal postclypeal area brownish. Supra-antennal plate brownish and hairless. Antennal flagella and pedicel black. Postclypeus brownish slightly domed with five transversal grooves. Anteclypeus brownish. Rostrum with labrum, mentum and labium yellowish. Apex of rostrum reaching bases of hind trochanter. Thorax. Pronotum longer than head, brownish with variable black ornamentations and bearing scattered silvered short hairs. Pronotal collar brown; lateral parts thick, slightly prominent. Lateral and paramedian fissure black. Mesonotum brownish. Submedian sigilla and lateral sigilla brown, darker than mesonotum. Scutal depression brownish. Metanotum brown-greenish with long scattered silvered hairs. Cruciform elevation uniformly brownish with long golden hairs at anterior and lateral bases. Opercula separated, roundish as long as wide, whitish, bearing scattered silvered hairs on the posterior margin.

Wings. Forewings hyaline; venation reddish except apical cells and a part of ulnar cells, which are blackish; median and cubital anterior vein fused on 1 mm at their bases. Hindwing venation blackish, except cubitus anterior vein which is reddish; vannus hyaline.

Legs. Brownish with smalls black ornamentations. On forelegs, coxa brownish with median longitudinal black line on medial side. Trochanters brownish with blackish spot on interior side. Femurs brownish. On the mid legs, coxa yellowish with wide brown spot on anteriomedian side; trochanter, femur, tibia and tarsus entirely yellowish. Hind legs similar to mid legs.

Abdomen. Slim and tapered, covered by scattered silver hairs. Tergites 1 to 7 brown with green posterior margin, tergite 8 entirely brown. Sternites uniformly brownish to reddish.

Genitalia. Pygofer brownish, slightly curved with rounded upper lobe, more developed than basal lobe and distant from dorsal beak; dorsal beak sharp. Gonopore sharp and perpendicular to pseudoparamere. Claspers parallel, curved inwards, apically obtuse and divergent.

Song patterns. Male calling song ( Fig. 11 ) composed of two types of sequences. Sequence type 1 is a long succession of echemes emitted at a rate of 28 per second. The second sequence type is shorter than the previous sequence and is composed of 10 to 12 phrases. Phrase duration varies between 0.97 s to 1.31 s; each phrase contains two parts: the first part is a regular succession 18 to 34 of echemes, emitted at a rate of 28 by second; the second part is emitted 0.08 s after the preceding section and contains three echemes. Both sequences cover frequencies from 12 to 22 kHz with the main energy between 17 and 21 kHz and a maximum of energy at 19 kHz.

Distribution. North east of “Grande terre”, endemic to Mont Panié ( Fig. 12 ).

Derivation of name. From Latin, meaning “almost inaudible”, because of the high frequency of the male calling song.

Habitat and ecology. As with M. inaudibilis Delorme sp. nov. and M. paenetacita Delorme sp. nov., calling males were found in dense Niaouli shrub ( Melaleuca quinquenervia , Myrtaceae ) mixed with dense fern cover ( Pteridium sp., Dennstaedtiaceae ). Males call while sitting in the branches located at the tops of trees. It does not appear to be gregarious and seems to be strictly diurnal and heliophilous. The station is located where Niaouli trees reach only 2 m. Because of the rarity of this cicada during the prospection and the difficulty to mark individuals, no more observation was accomplished.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Murmurillana paenetacita Delorme sp. nov., dorsal view of holotype male (Photography: Laurent Fauvre, MNHN).

FIGURE 8. Murmurillana paenetacita Delorme sp. nov., ventral view of holotype male (Photography: Laurent Fauvre, MNHN).

FIGURE 9. Murmurillana paenetacita Delorme sp. nov., pygofer lateral view of holotype male (Photography: Laurent Fauvre, MNHN).

FIGURE 10. Murmurillana paenetacita Delorme sp. nov., pygofer ventral view of holotype male (Photography: Laurent Fauvre, MNHN).

FIGURE 11. Murmurillana paenetacita Delorme sp. nov., Nouvelle-Calédonie, Mont Panié, refuge Blaffart (570 m), 25 / II / 2013. Graphic representation of a typical male calling song. A) Oscillogram of a record of 22 seconds. B) Oscillogram of a record of 20 seconds showing two types of sequences. C) Spectrogram of a record of 20 seconds. D) Oscillogram of a piece of 5 seconds from sequence type 1. E) Spectrogram of a piece of 5 seconds from sequence type 1. F) Oscillogram of a piece of sequence type 2, showing three whole phrases. G) Spectrogram of a piece of sequence type 2, showing three whole phrases. H) Power spectrum.

FIGURE 12. Distribution map of Murmurillana Delorme gen. nov., species.