New synonymy in the leafhopper genus Stegelytra Mulsant and Rey and description of a new genus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Stegelytrinae)

The synonymy of Iberia Kirkaldy, 1907 with Stegelytra Mulsant and Rey, 1855 is reinstated; Iraqerus Ghauri, 1972 is synonymized with Stegelytra, syn. nov. and the type species of Iraqerus, S. niveosparsus (Ghauri, 1972), comb. nov. is figured and placed as a new senior synonym of S. sororcula Dlabola, 1974, syn. nov. A new stegelytrine genus, Daochia gen. nov., with reticulate forewing venation similar to that of Stegelytra, is described and placed in the subfamily Stegelytrinae. The following new species are described and illustrated, and a key given for their separation: Daochia reticulata (type species), D. longshengensis, D. bicornis (all from China), and D. fyanensis (from Vietnam).


Introduction
The Palaearctic leafhopper genus Stegelytra (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) was erected by Mulsant and Rey in 1855 with its type species S. alticeps Mulsant and Rey. Kirkaldy (1907) stated that there were two genera confused under the name Stegelytra and erected a new genus, Iberia, with its type species S. bolivari Signoret. Subsequently, Ghauri (1972) erected Iraqerus, with type species Iraqerus neveosparsus Ghauri (Figures 1-14), and considered that it occupied an intermediate position between the other two genera, based on the following characters: four subapical cells in the fore wing (in common with Iberia), two pairs of aedeagal appendages (in common with Stegelytra) and sharing the same hostplant genus, Quercus, in common with both of them. Nast (1972) listed Iberia as a synonym of Stegelytra but Oman et al. (1990) listed the two as separate genera. In the present paper we reinstate the synonymy of Iberia with Stegelytra (see Remarks under Stegelytra), place Iraqerus as a new synonym of Stegelytra syn. nov., and place the type species of the former, I. neveosparsus comb. nov., as a new senior synonym of S. sororcula Dlabola syn. nov. These actions bring the total number of species in the genus to six (see checklist below). In addition we describe a new genus, Daochia gen. nov., for four new species from China and Vietnam, which like Stegelytra has reticulate fore wing venation. Both genera belong to the subfamily Stegelytrinae Baker, a group regarded as a tribe of Coelidiinae by Evans (1947), Metcalf (1964), and Ghauri (1972), but regarded as a subfamily by Ribaut (1952), Nast (1972), and Nielson (1975).
Stegelytrinae Baker is a small subfamily of Cicadellidae from the Palaearctic and Oriental regions. The group is distinguished by the following combination of characters: head distinctly narrower than pronotum with eyes strongly encroaching onto pronotum laterally, and relatively more dorsal in relation to pronotal carina in lateral view (except Temburocera Webb); face with lateral margins not or weakly incurved below eyes with antennae arising low on face (Figures 4,16) and fore wing with cross-vein between claval veins and between outer claval vein and claval suture (Figures 2, 18). The following characters are also present in many but not all genera: hind femur with supranumerary macrosetae preapically, hind tibia with macrosetae on dorsal surface between rows AD and PD, commisural margin of fore wing thickened. Compared to other subfamilies of Cicadellidae, the included genera of Stegelytrinae are remarkably diverse and the Oriental genera were either only recently placed in the subfamily (being unassigned by Oman et al. 1990), or have been recently described (see Webb 1999;Zhang et al. , 2004Zhang et al. , 2006aZhang et al. , 2006bWei and Zhang, 2003).
Although having reticulate venation, in common with Stegelytra, the new genus forms a distinctive group with the other Oriental stegelytrine genera, i.e. Cyrta Melichar, Doda Distant, Kunasia Distant, Placidus Distant, Placidellus Evans, Paraplacidellus Zhang, Wei and Shen, Stenolora Zhang, Wei and Webb, Platyvalvata Zhang, Wei and Webb, Temburocera Webb and Wyuchiva Zhang based on their very much longer antennae. The new genus also has two unusual features found in some other members of this group, i.e. the clypellus is expanded (also present in Temburocera) and the clypellus has two stout apical setae (also present in Doda and Kunasia). Unlike the Taiwanese Stegelytrinae Placidus orientalis Schumacher and Pachymetopius decoratus Matsumura that occur on Fagus (Fagaceae) and Lisea acuminata (Lauraceae), respectively, (C. Dietrich, personal communication), and the Palaearctic Stegelytra and Wadkupfia Linnavuori, that occur on oaks (Quercus fagaceae), the biology and host plants of other genera are unknown. However, a male specimen of D. bicornis sp. n., described here, together with some other male Stegelytrinae (Y.-L. Zhang et al., 2006a), were collected on exposed river banks. This habitat, connected to mineral uptake during feeding (''mudpuddling''), is well known in male Lepidoptera (Boggs and Dau 2004). Less well known is its occurrence in Cicadellidae (see review by Rakitov et al. 2005) but females are rarely collected in the aquatic vicinity and some less common cicadellid groups are implicated, i.e. Arrugadinae, Phereurhinini, and Neobalinae. Stegelytrinae are rare in collections, with many species known only from the male.

Remarks
Kirkaldy (1907) separated Iberia from Stegelytra based on the following characteristics: the anterior vertex shape, the shape of the anterior and posterior margins of the pronotum, and the number of subapical cells of the fore wing. These characters are considered either inaccurate or too unreliable to be used for diagnosing genera. For example, in reticulate fore wings the number of cells can vary between individuals of the same species.

Remarks
To the original description the following can be added: vertex and face shagreened, genae rugose; face ventrally hairy; fore wings with adjacent inner margins of clavus elevated and adpressed (with wings in rest position); appendix of fore wing narrow ( Figure 2); legs densely hairy; male genitalia with segment X lightly sclerotized; pygofer solidly attached to the valve along its lateral margin and with a short perpendicular hyaline band adjacent to the valve ( Figure 8); subgenital plate with a small dorso-lateral basal process articulating with the pygofer membrane; aedeagus with shaft laterally compressed ( Figure 12); dorsal connective firmly attached to aedeagus (Figure 11), plate-like in antero/posterior view (Figures 12, 13); female with second valvifers (in part) and third valvulae (entirely) exposed ( Figure 14).

Description
Male. Head distinctly narrower than pronotum; eyes encroaching onto pronotum laterally, in dorsal view. Vertex with median length shorter than width between eyes, rounded to front, depressed centrally, smooth; coronal suture extending to level of fore margin of eye; ocelli located on junction of face and vertex, approximately one-third own diameter from corresponding eye. Face as long as wide, lateral margin not incurved below eye; shagreened, finely rugose below eye; lateral frontal suture directed to outer margin of corresponding ocellus; transclypellar suture obscure medially; clypeus appearing pinched ventrally (more so in male); clypellus broad with apical area depressed laterally (both more so in male), convex in profile, anterior margin distinctly concave with a stout seta on each side; rostrum very short; labrum extended to near apex of labium; lora very narrow; gena somewhat longitudinally sulcate under eye; antennae very long, longer than body, arising near lower corner of eyes; basal antennal segment slightly more enlarged than normal; antennal ledge distinct. Pronotum short and broad, about three times broader than median length, smooth; lateral margin long with dorsopleural carina present, straight; posterior margin slightly sinuously concave. Scutellum longer than pronotum, basal width nearly as long as lateral margin; depressed at transverse suture, elevated to apex thereafter; transverse suture distinct. Fore wing elongate, venation reticulate subapically on anterior margin; claval veins united by cross-vein and a cross-vein present between inner claval vein and claval suture; apical margin of appendix nearly truncate. Legs with spinulation of deltocephaline type, without extra setae; hind femur long, apical setal formula 2+2+1 with setae not elevated on strong bases. Male pygofer broad in lateral view with short to long macrosetae; dorsal margin long with a short lightly sclerotized area adjacent to anal tube in dorsal view; laterobasal corner with a short lightly sclerotized fracture and a slightly more dorsad lightly sclerotized patch in pygofer wall, posterior to fracture ventral margin thickened and infolded (Figure 22). Tenth segment very short and membranous. Valve fused with subgenital plate, the latter extended to near apex of pygofer, narrowly triangular shaped with an irregular row of moderately long macrosetae centrally over distal half of plate; a somewhat triangular-shaped process sub-basally, projecting into pygofer in lateral view; lateral margin folded inward. Paramere very long and narrow; inner basal apophysis short, outer basal apophysis elongate, tapered to apex; apical process elongate, tapered to narrowly rounded incurved apex, with several subapical setae at inner margin. Connective oblong with arms and stem poorly differentiated, medially weakly sclerotized. Aedeagal shaft in lateral view curved dorsad, fimbriolate apically, with one or two pairs of basal processes; basal apodeme moderately long, articulated with a hood-like dorsal connective in pygofer phragma.
Female. Pregenital sternite much longer than sternite VI. Second valvulae with dorsal hyaline region present one-third distance from base to apex, thereafter dorsal margin with fine closely set teeth.

Distribution
China and Vietnam.

Etymology
The generic name is an arbitrary combination of letters. Gender is feminine.

Diagnosis
This genus is similar to Stegelytra in having reticulate fore wing venation but has many features in common with some other oriental genera recently placed in Stegelytrinae (see Introduction). It differs from these genera, in addition to its reticulate fore wing venation, in having the anteclypeus broad and convex with latero-apical areas depressed (similar to Thagria (Coelidiinae)), lora very narrow, pronotum with lateral carina straight and the posterior margin sinuate, valve fused with the subgenital plate, the latter with a sub-basal process, dorsal connective of the pygofer distant from the Xth segment, connective oblong with arms and stem undifferentiated, paramere very elongate and by the apically fimbriolate aedeagus.
Key to species (males) 1. Aedeagus with a long preatrium with an elongate and short pair of process arising from its base ( Figure 31) Description Body length 7.0-7.8 mm. Dorsum generally yellow-brown with pale yellow markings as in Figures 15-18; anterior part of anteclypeus, lora and gena reddish; ocelli red-brown. Fore wing with veins generally yellow-white with some basal veins dark red; a triangular-shaped pale yellow patch at mid-length of the fore margin. Sternum yellow-white, legs yellow-white to dark brown. Male genitalia with connective narrow. Aedeagus with shaft moderately long and narrow, fimbriolate apically on posterior margin; a laterally broad basal process on each side and a slightly shorter more posterior process on each side, both pairs of processes slightly divergent in posterior view and following curve of shaft in lateral view.

Etymology
Named after the conspicuously reticulate fore wing venation.

Daochia longshengensis sp. n. (Figures 28-32)
Description Body length 7.6 mm. Dorsum generally brown with pale yellow markings as in Figures 15-18; frontoclypeus with several dark ochre transverse symmetrical marks; anterior part of anteclypeus red; ocelli yellow-white margined red-brown. Fore wing with a triangularshaped pale yellow patch at mid-length of the fore margin; sternum and legs yellow-white.
Disc of vertex distinctly concave; gena deeply longitudinally sulcate below eye. Male genitalia with connective broad; anterior margin concave with a short medial projection. Paramere with inner basal apophysis broadly rounded. Aedeagal shaft elongate in lateral view, compressed antero-posteriorly, fimbriolate apically; a long preatrium present with a pair of short and a pair of long lateral appendages basally, the latter serrate apically on anterior surface. laterally serrate process on each side arising near mid-length and extended to slightly distal of shaft apex, slightly curved dorsally and adpressed to shaft.

Etymology
Named after its single pair of aedeagal processes.

Biology
See Introduction.

Remarks
This species can be distinguished by (1) broad connective; (2) broadly U-shaped aedeagus in lateral view; and (3) single pair of lateral aedeagal processes extending beyond shaft. Daochia fyanensis sp. n. (Figures 39-44) Description Body length 7 mm. Dorsum and face generally yellow-brown with pale yellow markings as in Figures 15-18; anterior part of anteclypeus and lateral margin of postclypeus and gena red; eyes dark brown; ocelli red. Fore wing with veins generally red; a triangular-shaped whitish patch at mid-length of the fore margin. Sternum and legs yellow-white, posterior tibia darker.
Male genitalia with connective narrow. Aedeagus with shaft moderately long and narrow, laterally compressed, fimbriolate apically on posterior margin; a laterally broad basal process on each side, slightly expanded distally in posterior view and a narrower slightly shorter and more posterior process on each side, both pair of processes slightly divergent in posterior view and following curve of shaft in lateral view.
Other material. The following two specimens (BMNH and BPBM, respectively) may be this species: Vietnam: Tam Dao Mts (21.45uN, 105.64uE), 10 August and 5 September