Rustia kodagura, Marathe & Sanborn & Kunte, 2018

Marathe, Kiran, Sanborn, Allen F. & Kunte, Krushnamegh, 2018, Revision of the genus Rustia Stål, 1866 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadinae) including a generic synonymy, four new combinations, and two new species from the Western Ghats, India, Zootaxa 4457 (3), pp. 431-443 : 437-441

Rustia kodagura n. sp.

( Figures 2–4 , Table 1, Map 1) http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4032F9A0-68DC-4025-A68A-F07C701661A0

Type material. Holotype male ( NCBS-AY 378; Figure 4A–B ); 06.vii.2017; Honey Valley Estate in Kodagu District, Karnataka, India (Lat: 12.2204, Long: 75.6560, Map 1); leg. A. Sanyal, G. S. Girish Kumar, and N. Achari ( NCBS). Paratypes. Same data as holotype, six males ( NCBS) and two males, NCBS-AY 394 and NCBS-AY 395 (ZSI-K). Same data as paratype except collection date 07.viii.2017, one female and one male. A consolidated list of these specimens is provided in Table 1.

Etymology. The name is reference to the name of the region in the native language of the area where the type series was collected; kodagura in the Kodava language means anything that belongs to the Kodagu (Coorg) region.

Diagnosis. Rustia kodagura n. sp. can be distinguished from R. dentivitta , R. maculata n. comb., R. marginata n. comb., and R. minuta n. sp. by the infuscation on the distal fore wing veins between apical cells in these species. Similarly, the infuscation on the fore wing of R. apicata n. comb., R. longicauda n. comb., and R. tigrina is found only on the apex of the fore wing in these species while there is additional infuscation on the radial and radiomedial crossveins and the proximal base of radius anterior 2. In addition, R. kodagura n. sp. has narrow elliptical fore wings with an angle at the node while the margin is smoothly curved in all other species.

Description. Basic coloration olivaceous and piceous; some paratypes more ochraceous. Piceous pigment on the prothorax, mesothorax, and abdomen variable. Fore wings infuscation varying only slightly in intensity. Brownish-piceous female largely resembling male counterpart.

Head. Head including eyes narrower than prothorax and the widest part of mesothorax, olivaceous marked with piceous. Area around ocelli (epicranial suture and epicranial suture anterior arm) and areas anteriorly adjacent to it piceous. Supra-antennal plate piceous. Lateral ocelli elevated compared to median ocellus. Areas between ocelli and lateral epicranium depressed. Antennae piceous, pedicel partly olivaceous. Postclypeus olivaceous with eight pairs of transverse grooves. Rostrum olivaceous with piceous tip reaching to abdominal sternite I.

Thorax. Prothorax olivaceous marked with piceous, female brownish where male olivaceous. Central olivaceous fascia, mildly biconcave shaped piceous fasciae on either side, anterior ends broad and merging medially on posterior end. Paramedian and lateral fissures almost equal in length, piceous. Lateral ambient fissure, lateral angle of the pronotal collar and posterior pronotal collar margin piceous. Pronotal collar wider than anterior mesothorax, almost as wide as abdominal tergite 4. Mesothorax ochraceous and piceous dorsally, olivaceous laterally. Central piceous fascia, narrow anteriorly expanding laterally near posterior to merge with scutal depressions, extending to cruciform elevation appearing trilobed at terminus. Piceous along parasidal suture. Piceous fascia along lateral lateral sigillae, narrowed anteriorly, expanding posteriorly terminating in wing groove. Cruciform elevation olivaceous. Ventral side olivaceous.

Legs. Olivaceous marked with piceous. Fore femur primary spine blunt at the tip, piceous, secondary spine sharp at the tip, angled, piceous. Small apical spine situated distally to the secondary spine. Hind tibia olivaceous, tibial spur and tibial comb piceous.

Opercula. Male operculum small, scale-like, almost covering tympanal cavity, not encapsulating meracanthus medially, opercula well separated along midline, meracanthus tapering to a point, not reaching to posterior margin of operculum.

Wings. Fore wing hyaline, about 21mm in length, with 8 apical cells, basal cell slightly clouded. Radial, radiomedial and medial crossveins and proximal radius anterior 2 prominently infuscated, radius anterior 2, radius posterior, median veins 1–4, and cubitus anterior 1 mildly infuscated sub-distally, apex of wing mildly infuscated. Arculus piceous, costa and radius & subcostal vein olivaceous, node piceous, subcostal vein and radius anterior ochraceous, median vein, cubitus anterior, cubitus posterior + anal vein 1 and anal vein 2+3 olivaceous, remaining venation piceous. Basal membrane greyish. Apical cell 1 longer than apical cell 2, apical cell 3 or 4 longest, about the same size. Ulnar cells 1 and 2 about the same length, much shorter than ulnar cell 3. Hind wing hyaline, about 11mm in length, with 5 apical cells. Veins ochraceous proximally, becoming piceous distally. Radius posterior mildly arched.

Abdomen. Timbals with four ribs ( Fig. 2 ), completely exposed, rudimentary timbal cover not covering any portion of timbal. Tergite 1 brownish, transverse piceous fascia on anterior and posterior margins, tergite 2 with piceous anterior margin between timbal cavities and piceous spot near dorsal timbal cover. Piceous mark near posterior margin on either side of midline and dorsolateral surfaces on tergites 3 and 4. Tergite 5 piceous only laterally. Tergites 6 and 7 olivaceous. Tergite 8 mainly piceous with olivaceous posterior margin. Sternites olivaceous except piceous sternite VII with olivaceous anterolateral margins. Sternites III and IV with a pair of piceous tubercles on the lateral surfaces, tubercles on sternite III larger. Tympanal cavity clearly visible.

Genitalia. Pygofer oblong, distal pygofer shoulders with pointed dorso-posterior tip reaching to base of anal styles ( Figure 4E–H ). Upper pygofer lobes short extending distally. Anal styles prominent. Median uncus lobe tapered ventro-medially, pronounced bifurcated opposing tips recurved medially. Aedeagus bifurcated laterally, extended basal plate, flattened hinge, proximally flattened theca region, cylindrical middle region with tapered terminus.

Measurements (MM). N = 9 males or 1 female, mean (range). Length of body: male 15.3 (14.6—17.0), female 10.3; length of fore wing: male 21.1 (19.9—22.4), female 20.7; width of fore wing: male 6.7 (6.3—7.2), female 6.6; length of head: male 0.9 (0.8—1.0), female 1.0; width of head including eyes: male 4.4 (4.1—4.8), female 4.4; width of pronotum including suprahumeral plates: male 4.8 (4.5—5.1), female 4.6; width of mesonotum: male 4.3 (3.9—4.6), female 4.1.

Remarks. The female paratype is considerably smaller than the holotype.

Ecology and distribution. Rustia kodagura n. sp. is currently known from two locations, the type locality of Honey Valley and a photographic observation from Thadiyandamol both in the Kodagu District of the Indian state of Karnataka but the species may be distributed across the Western Ghats. Honey Valley has a mix of coffee plantation, semi-evergreen and evergreen vegetation types dominating the habitat ( Fig. 3 ). Adults were abundant and found on trees, unlike R. minuta n. sp.. Just a few individuals typically occupied a single tree and preferred the tree stem for perching. Adults activity did not appear to cease due to heavy rains which indicates that R. kodagura n. sp. is also monsoon species. It appeared that the population was male biased at the time of sampling. We did not record their calls but the calls were easily heard even without special attention. As new information on this species is generated, it will be made available on the Cicadas of Indian website (http://www.indiancicadas.org/sp/574/ Rustia-kodagura).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Timbal structures of Rustia minuta n. sp. (A) and Rustia kodagura n. sp. (B).

FIGURE 3. Habitat at the type locality of Rustia minuta n. sp.,Verlem, South Goa District, Goa (A) and Rustia kodagura n. sp., Honey Valley Estate, Kodagu District, Karnataka (B).

FIGURE 4. Dorsal and ventral sides of the holotype (A–B) and allotype (C–D), male genitalia of (E–H) of Rustia kodagura n. sp. Separate millimeter-scales are at the bottom of the type specimens and genitalia.