Published December 31, 2004 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Onega orphne Takiya & Cavichioli, 2004, sp. nov.

Description

Onega orphne sp. nov.

(Figs 1 F, 4)

Length. males 12.4–12.9 mm and females 12.7–13.3 mm.

External morphology. Crown (Fig. 1 F) with median length slightly more than 6/10 interocular and 4/10 transocular width; apical and lateral concave areas on crown not confluent. Frons mostly concave. Pronotum (Fig. 1 F) with posterior margin very slightly concave. Forewings (Fig. 1 F) mostly opaque; membrane extending only over first apical cell; most of corium with plexus of veins, this absent on apical and brachial cells; clavus with crossveins between claval veins and between inner claval and claval margin. Hindlegs with femoral setal formula 2:1:1; first tarsomeres with length approximately equal to combined length of distal ones. Other external characters as in generic description (Young 1977: 285).

Male genitalia. Pygofer (Fig. 4 A) moderately produced; posterior margin serrate; without processes; microsetae on basiventral region; macrosetae dispersed throughout posterior 1/3. Subgenital plates (Figs 4 A, B) extending nearly to apex of pygofer; not fused basally; with uniseriate macrosetae, Styles (Fig. 4 C) extending posteriorly beyond apex of connective; apex broad and foot­shaped. Connective (Fig. 4 C) approximately Vshaped; dorsal keel strong and elongate, extending anteriorly. Aedeagus (Figs 4 D, E, F) with shaft elongate; lateral flanges on basal portion in ventral view short and acute (Fig. 4 F, males from Pichincha Province) or more elongate and round (Fig. 4 E, as in holotype and additional male from Bolívar Province); dorsal robust elongate process extending from base posteriorly beyond apex of shaft; apical spine­like process arising from left (Fig. 4 E, as in holotype) or right (Fig. 4 F) ventrolateral sclerotized margin; basal apodemes sclerotized. Paraphysis (Fig. 4 D) present as median sclerite.

Female genitalia. Sternite VII with posterior margin broadly round (Fig. 4 G); disc with fine transverse striations. Pygofer (Fig. 4 I) with macrosetae distributed along posteroventral margin. Gonoplacs (Fig. 4 I) with apex narrowly round. Second valvulae (similar to Fig. 5 D) bearing 43 non­contiguous teeth; ventral prominence slightly conspicuous. Other invariant generic characters as described above.

Coloration. Head and proepimeron pale orange to pale red (Fig. 1 F); crown with apices of antennal ledges and median square on posterior margin dark brown; tan areas on external sides of ocelli. Pronotum and mesonotum tan (Fig. 1 F); pair of maculae on anterolateral margin of pronotum behind eyes, anterior angles of mesoscutum, and apex of mesoscutellum, black; lateral margins of pronotum and pair of C­shaped lines on disc of pronotum continuous to black maculae on anterior margin, castaneous. Forewings (Fig. 1 F) dark brown to black; clavus with basal half with band along anal margin (continuous basally with small region of corium) and small transverse transcommissural stripe crossing apex, translucent white or tan; specimens from Pichincha Province (Ecuador) with additional translucent stripe on corium along apical portion of claval suture; claval venation over translucent area castaneous; membrane light brown. Thoracic pleura dark­brown to black, sometimes with irregular tan areas. Legs mostly dark brown to black; bases of femora tan. Abdomen dark brown to black; sternites thinly tan posteriorly.

Notes. Onega orphne sp. nov. (Fig. 1 F) is very similar in general coloration to O. sanguinicollis, known only from a single female (Fig. 1 G). Although forewings of the former species are mostly dark brown to black, and the latter’s are mostly dark red, both species have an oblique translucent area on the basal half of the clavus, where brochosomes tend to accumulate. Additional characteristics of females, such as adult body size and shape of the posterior margin of the sternite VII (Figs 4 G, 5A), can further differentiate both species. The male genitalia of O. orphne resemble most closely those of O. fassli, sharing with the latter the presence of a paraphysis (also present in O. krameri sp. nov.) and the dorsal median process of the aedeagus. Furthermore, O. orphne sp. nov. can easily be separated from other Onega species by the extensively serrate posterior margin of the male pygofer and ventrolateral apical process of aedeagal shaft.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to its dark coloration, unique for Onega species (Gr. orphne = the darkness of the night). Dr. Kramer also studied the USNM male specimen from Chiriboga and labeled it “ Onega tristis n. sp. ”. It is very amusing to imagine that this name was due to the color pattern of the crown and pronotum, which when looked at creatively, does reveal a portrait of a sad person: ocelli as the eyes, oblique convexities on crown as eyebrows, posterior margin of crown as downcast mouth, and C­shaped lines on pronotum as the outlines of the neck (see Fig. 1 F).

Habitat. Montane rainforests above 1,900 m.

Material examined. Holotype: male, “ ECUADOR. Bolivar \ Guaranda (23km NE) \ elev. 7400 ft. [2,255 m] \ 20 June 1975 \ Langley and Cohen”, “Ecuador­Peace­Corps­ \ Smithsonian Institution \ Aquatic Insect Survey”, USNM. Paratypes: male and 3 females, same data as holotype, USNM; male, “ ECUADOR: \ Chiriboga, \ Pichincha Prov. \ 30 March 1958 \ R. W. Hodges \ Elev. 6500 Ft. [1,981 m]”, USNM; male, “ ECUADOR: Prov. \ Pichincha, 1900 m. \ Road Aloag­S. Domingo \ VIII­15­1969 \ P. & B. Wygodzinsky”, AMNH; 1 male and 1 female, “ ECUADOR: Pichincha \ 26km WNW Machachi \ 1900m. 12 nov 1987 ”, “J. Rawlins, C. Young \ R. Davidson. Humid \ primary forest”, CMNH.

Notes

Published as part of Takiya, Daniela Maeda & Cavichioli, Rodney Ramiro, 2004, A review of the Neotropical sharpshooter genus Onega Distant, 1908 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellini), pp. 1-19 in Zootaxa 718 on pages 12-15, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.158154

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Family
Cicadellidae
Genus
Onega
Kingdom
Animalia
Order
Hemiptera
Phylum
Arthropoda
Species
orphne
Taxonomic status
sp. nov.
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Onega orphne Takiya & Cavichioli, 2004

References

  • Young, D. A. (1977) Taxonomic study of the Cicadellinae (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Part 2, New World Cicadellini and the genus Cicadella. Bulletin of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, 239, 1 - 1135.