Maiestas sinuata Shah & Duan, 2021

Shah, Bismillah, Naveed, Hassan, Webb, Michael D. & Duan, Yani, 2021, Taxonomic review of the grassland leafhopper genus Maiestas Distant (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Deltocephalini) from Pakistan with description of a new species and two new records, Zootaxa 5060 (3), pp. 401-416 : 406-408

Maiestas sinuata Shah & Duan sp. n.

( Fig. 3 )

Length. Male: 3.3mm.

Description. Coloration. Yellowish brown ( Fig. 3A–B ). Head and thorax creamy white with yellow markings ( Fig. 3A, 3C ). Crown with eight small, dark brownish marks, with ochraceous patches on each side of median longitudinal suture ( Fig. 3A, 3C ). Pronotum with four yellow longitudinal stripes ( Fig. 3A, 3C ). Mesonotum and scutellum pale with yellowish brown spots ( Fig. 3A, 3C ). Eye color tinged with yellowish grey. Ocellus white ( Fig. 3A–C ). Frontoclypeus dark brown with pale transverse stripes ( Fig. 3D ). Legs marked with dark brown ( Fig. 3B ). Forewing brown, with prominent pale venation ( Fig. 3A–B ).

Morphology. Head slightly wider than pronotum and slightly longer than width between eyes ( Fig. 3A, 3C ). Ocellus next to eye on anterior margin ( Fig. 3A–C ). Pronotum median length almost equal to the median length of crown ( Fig. 3A, 3C ). Forewing macropterous, exceeding abdomen when at rest ( Fig. 3A–B ).

Male genitalia. Pygofer side longer than height in lateral aspect with rounded apical margin ( Fig. 3E ). Subgenital plate moderately long, triangular, with row of marginal uniseriate macrosetae ( Fig. 3F ). Style narrow, with prominent preapical shoulder; apex digitate, slightly curved laterally ( Fig. 3F ). Connective almost equal in length to aedeagus ( Fig. 3G–H ). Aedeagal shaft in dorsal view broad at base ( Fig. 3G ), gradually tapered towards pointed apex; in lateral view, slightly sinuate with basal half concave ventrally and apical half concave dorsally, finely tapered from base to apex ( Fig. 3H ).

Material examined. Holotype ♂: Pakistan: Punjab, Kahuta , 33°35′28.3776 N, 73°22′12.234 E, sweep net, 25 July 2018, coll. Bismillah Shah ( AAU).

Distribution. Pakistan.

Etymology. The species named for the slightly sinuate aedeagal shaft in lateral view.

Remarks. This species has a similar sinuate aedeagal shaft to M. chandrai Fletcher & Dai (2019) (replacement name for M. viraktamathi Fletcher & Dai, 2018 ), from Australia, but differs from the latter species in external appearance and other genitalia structures, i.e., the subgenital plate with apical fine setae, style with apical process thicker and aedeagus lacking a ventrobasal “heel”, the latter feature placing M. chandrai in the M. albomaculatus group of Dash & Viraktamath (1998).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Maiestas sinuata Shah & Duan sp. n. A: habitus, dorsal view; B: habitus, lateral view; C: head and thorax, dorsal view; D: face; E: male genital capsule, lateral view; F: subgenital plates, valve and styles, dorsal view; G–H: connective and aedeagus, dorsal and lateral view respectively.