A new genus for North American Cicadetta species (Hemiptera: Cicadidae)
Author
Marshall, David C.
Author
Hill, Kathy B. R.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4306
4
537
550
journal article
32365
10.11646/zootaxa.4306.4.5
4554fbae-1865-4f67-8250-ea2df5324672
1175-5326
845161
AC76C958-CA96-48CB-AB4A-5591F20070DF
Genus
Cicadettana
gen. n.
Type species:
Cicada calliope
Walker, 1850
: 212
.
Included species:
calliope calliope
(
Walker 1850:212
)
comb n.
,
calliope
floridensis
(
Davis 1920:131
)
comb. n.
,
camerona
(
Davis 1920:134
)
comb. n.
,
kansa
(
Davis 1919:340
)
comb. n.
,
ramosi
(
Sanborn 2009:1
)
comb. n.
,
texana
(
Davis 1936:105
)
comb. n.
Etymology.
The stem "
Cicadetta
" followed by the letters "n" and "a" referring to North America. Gender feminine.
Zoobank LSID:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A8B153EA-D5AD-4D58-BA52-D597F0FDAAFC
Distribution.
The eastern and central
USA
, and Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles (
Sanborn 2009
;
Sanborn & Phillips 2013
).
USA
records extend to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains but exclude New
England
, the northern Great Lakes region, and the northern Great Plains.
Cicadettana camerona
has a restricted distribution in southern
Texas
but may extend into
Mexico
.
Diagnosis (see also
Figs. 2
,
3
).
Small cicadas (
ca
.
12–20 mm
length, excluding wings) with narrow to moderate-width bodies and primarily brown and/or green color with only limited black marks.
FIGURE 1.
A section of the molecular phylogeny of the tribe
Cicadettini
published by Marshall
et al.
(2016) showing the North American taxa (formerly in
Cicadetta
, here newly combined in the new genus
Cicadettana
) and their closest allies from Eurasia and Oceania forming a clade nested within genera from Australia. This clade, termed the R2 clade by Marshall
et al.
, is one of two inferred to have radiated from Australasia within the tribe. The type species of the genus
Cicadetta
(
C. montana
) was found to cluster in a distantly related group (the R1 clade, not shown) representing a separate, earlier out-of-Australasia radiation. See Marshall
et al.
for the full tree and for details on described and undescribed taxa shown.
FIGURE 2.
Cicadettana calliope calliope
(Walker)
gen. n.
, comb. n.
male (above) and female (below) specimens collected on 14 June 2007 in Cass Co., Illinois, E. of Chandlerville (Lat. 40.0467, Lon. -90.1084, WGS84). Scale bars = 4 mm.
Head
including eyes as wide as mesonotum or narrower; supra-antennal plate nearly meeting eye; postclypeus broadly rounded transversely across ventral midline (dorsal view), in lateral profile angular at most anterior part.
Thorax
: pronotum in dorsal view parallel-sided or widening towards posterior; pronotal collar width at midline less than diameter of eyes; paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites (sometimes subtle ampliation in
calliope calliope
), no mid lateral tooth; cruciform elevation wider than long; epimeral lobe not reaching operculum.
Fore Wings
hyaline, with 8 apical cells (rarely 7); subapical cells absent; ulnar cell 3 angled to radial cell; apical cell 8 (or 7 if only seven apical cells) with its maximum height at least 1/2 of its width along the ambient vein; basal cell longer than wide, narrowing distally; costal vein not clearly higher than R+Sc; costa parallel-sided to node or gently widening; costa of male gently and evenly curved; pterostigma absent to partial (incomplete distally); vein CuA bowed so that cubital cell wider than medial cell; veins M and CuA meeting basal cell with their stems completely fused as one; vein RA1 aligned closely with Sc for its length and not diverging in subapical region; vein CuA1 divided by crossvein m-cu so that proximal portion shortest; veins CuP and 1A fused in part; distance between cross veins
r and
r-m most often about equal to distance between r-m and m (rarely less than); apical cells 3–6 about equal to or longer than ulnar cells; radial cell length somewhat less than from its apex to wing tip; wing outer margin developed for its total length, never reduced to be confluent with ambient vein.
Hind wings
with 5–6 apical cells (most commonly six in
calliope
); no infuscation on ambient vein; width of 1
st cubital
cell at distal end at least twice that of 2nd cubital cell; anal lobe broad with vein 3A curved, long, separated from wing margin; veins RP and M fixed basally.
Fore leg
usually with four femoral spines, three well-developed; femoral primary spine erect.
Male opercula
of variable length across species, only sometimes reaching margin of tympanal cavity or beyond, apically broadly rounded, not meeting along medial margins, raised above level of tympanal cavity on their outer halves or so (less so in
camerona
).
Male abdomen
as wide as or a little wider than thorax; tergites in cross-section with sides straight or weakly convex; epipleurites reflexed ventrally from junction with tergites; tergite 1 narrow along dorsal midline; tergite 2 sometimes wider than tergites 3–7 (but not in
calliope
); sternites somewhat swollen so as to be visible in lateral view; sternites III–VI in cross-section convex, gently and evenly rounded; sternite VIII about as long as sternite VII (but sternite VIII much longer in
camerona
).
Timbals
with two long ribs spanning the full height of the timbal and two shorter ribs, with no intermediate ribs; basal dome large; anterior part of timbal mostly occupied by ribs; timbals rarely extending slightly below wing bases; timbal covers absent.
Male genitalia.
Pygofer in ventral view ovoid to sub ovoid in shape, distal portion of upper pygofer lobes not the widest point, not strongly tapered from upper pygofer lobes to base; distal shoulders not developed; upper lobes flat, moderately developed, set well away from dorsal beak, rounded; basal lobes undivided, moderately to weakly developed, rounded in lateral view, abutted against or partly tucked behind pygofer margin; dorsal beak present as a developed apical spine or pointed apex (visible in dorsal view) and a part of chitinized pygofer, more weakly present in
texana
and
camerona
. Uncus small, short, flattened, more or less duck-bill shaped. Claspers well developed, large, dominant, restraining aedeagus; claw-like with cavity lateroventrally, unfused, lacking a rounded, inward-facing swelling on proximal half or so of inner margin, diverging towards distal ends (parallel in
texana
and
camerona
), their apices not forming the widest dimension of the claspers. Aedeagus with basal plate in lateral view undulated, weakly depressed on dorsal midline, in dorsal view as long as or longer than broad, apically broadened with 'ears', basal portion of basal plate directed forwards away from thecal shaft; junction between theca and basal plate with a functional 'hinge' with a partly chitinous back; thecal shaft nearly straight; pseudoparameres present, dorsal of theca and originating distal of thecal base, in dorsal view parallel or turning in then gradually diverging, in lateral view aligned with thecal shaft for much of their length with proximal half or so in line with ventral support; endotheca exposed, soft, entirely fleshy; endothecal ventral support present, of medium length (no more than about half the length of pseudoparameres); thecal subapical cerci absent; flabellum absent; conjunctival claws absent; vesical opening apical on theca.
Male reproductive system
unknown.
Female dorsal beak
with a developed apical spine or pointed apex (visible in dorsal view).
Female reproductive system
unknown.
Distinguishing features.
Cicadettana
species possess the following attributes that place them within the subfamily
Cicadettinae
, tribe
Cicadettini
, following
Moulds (2005)
: Pygofer with large ventral claspers dominating the 10th abdominal segment; pygofer upper lobe flat; aedeagus with paired pseudoparameres; timbals not much extending below wing bases.
The initial comparison of the six
Cicadettana
taxa to the
type
species of
Cicadetta
(
C. montana
) yielded several differences in generic-level characters, confirming the distant phylogenetic relationship indicated by the molecular data. Unlike the
Cicadettana
species,
Cicadetta montana
possesses the following distinguishing attributes: fore wing veins M and Cu with stems meeting at basal cell but commonly not fused (but sometimes briefly fused as in
C. brevipennis
, see Fig.
8 in
Hertach
et al.
2016
); hind wing with infuscation at the distal end of vein 2A; claspers with their apices widely separated and clearly forming the widest dimension of the claspers; pseudoparameres much longer than theca; and thecal ventral support absent (see
Moulds 2005
and Fig.
128 in
Moulds 2012
).
Compared to the remaining
Cicadettini
genera studied here,
Cicadettana
is distinguishable by the following combination of characters: (1) paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites (sometimes subtle ampliation in
calliope calliope
), with no mid-lateral tooth; (2) fore wing radial cell length somewhat less than the distance from its apex to wing tip; (3) timbals with two long ribs spanning the full height of the timbal, usually with two shorter ribs and no intervening ribs; (4) male sternites somewhat swollen so that each is visible in lateral profile (not scored for
ramosi
); (5) male sternite VIII about as long as sternite VII (except
camerona
); and (6) claspers curved (in lateral view) and claw-like with cavity lateroventrally (more fang-like in
camerona
but still curved). This combination of characters is sufficient to distinguish
Cicadettana
from all described
Cicadettini
genera possessing a trifid aedeagus. To these, however, can be added the following additional external characters examined for the most closely related genera (the R2 clade of Marshall
et al.
2016): (7) body color brown and/or green with limited black marks dorsally (as opposed to a dominant black background color in many other genera); (8) wings hyaline with pterostigma absent to partial (sometimes almost complete in
texana
and
kansa
); (9) fore wing apical cell 8 (or 7 if only seven apical cells) with its maximum height at least 1/2 of its width along the ambient vein (but not in
ramosi
); (10) male sternites III–VI in cross-section convex and evenly rounded (not scored for
ramosi
).
FIGURE 3.
Cicadettana calliope calliope
(Walker)
gen. n.
, comb. n.
Upper left, male pygofer in lateral view. Upper right, same image labelled and with dotted lines emphasizing margins of key features including one clasper, both pseudoparameres, upper margin of one upper pygofer lobe, upper margin of one basal pygofer lobe, and thecal ventral support. The endotheca is obscured but lies between the ventral support and the pseudoparameres and does not extend beyond the claspers. Lower left, pygofer in ventral view, labelled; thecal structures are not in focus. Lower right, male timbal. BL=basal pygofer lobe, CL=clasper, DB=dorsal beak, PS=pseudoparameres, UL=upper pygofer lobe, UN=uncus (median lobe), VS=ventral support. Scale bars = 0.5 mm. Specimen is G133 genitalia prep. from US.KS.GYP site (see Table 1).
Cicadettana
is similar to
Philipsalta
(
Lee
et al.
2016
)
, a closely related genus in the molecular tree of Marshall
et al.
(2016). However,
Philipsalta
differs from
Cicadettana
in having (1) a black body color dorsally, (2) fore wing apical cell 8 (or 7 if only seven) longer than wide, (4) male sternites III–VI sharply convex forming a parabolically bowed V shape; (5) fang-like claspers that are angled at nearly 90 degrees. (
Cicadettana camerona
has somewhat fang-like claspers but they are not sharply angled.)
Tettigettalna
, a European genus closely related to
Cicadettana
in the molecular tree, is also similar but can be distinguished by a slightly to substantially ampliate paranotal margin (sometimes with a mid lateral tooth) and three long ribs on the timbal (see also
Puissant & Sueur 2010
), in addition to its usually black dorsal background color, while
Cicadettana
specimens have at most weak paranotal expansion and four timbal ribs (one
C. kansa
had a tiny fifth rib).
Huechys
is easily distinguished from
Cicadettana
by its fully colored wings, its fore wing radial cell which is only about half as long as the distance from its apex to the wing tip, and by its long, curving, beak-like tubular claspers on the pygofer.
Arcystasia
is easily distinguished by its complex and apically reticulated wing venation (
Distant 1882
) in addition to other characters. Some Australian genera related to
Cicadettana
are superficially similar morphologically (e.g.,
Chelapsalta
and
Simona
–
Ewart
et al.
2015
), but all can be distinguished with the characters shown in
Table 3
. Considering the matrix as a whole, the most important characters are the paranota, the timbal rib number, the dorsal body color, and the shape of the claspers on the pygofer, which in combination most consistently distinguish the
Cicadettana
species, and which were scored for all species in the study.