Revision of Mesothymbris Evans, 1956, from the Late Triassic of Mount Crosby, Queensland (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Hylicelloidea: Hylicellidae)
Author
Lambkin, Kevin J.
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-07-08
4629
3
389
396
journal article
26270
10.11646/zootaxa.4629.3.6
863d20c0-3fb3-4bf1-838a-1a9fd62dda23
1175-5326
3271053
B0C6513F-D373-46AD-8317-B8CE208A2FAD
Mesothymbris
Evans, 1956
Mesothymbris
Evans, 1956: 191
.
Type
species.
Mesothymbris perkinsi
Evans, 1956
, by original designation.
Triassoscytina
Evans, 1956: 179
.
Syn. nov.
Type
species.
Triassoscytina incompleta
Evans, 1956
, by original designation.
(in part)
Triassoscytinopsis
Evans, 1956: 190
.
Syn. nov.
Type
species.
Triassoscytinopsis stenulata
Evans, 1956
, by original designation.
Emended diagnosis.
Tegmen
c
. 3 times longer than wide, costal margin broadly convex proximally, almost straight distally, apex quite bluntly rounded; precostal carina broad at base, thence tapering to very narrow distally; marginal membrane narrow; costal space 2 times as wide as medial cell; clavus punctate, basal costal space possibly weakly punctate, tegmen otherwise smooth; point of separation of R and M at apex of basal cell noticeably kinked; basal cell long, narrow, parallel-sided, presumably closed apically by a very short arculus (not clearly preserved in any specimen); R fork quite distal, just before level of M fork; RA angled posteriorly at point of separation of RA
1
, with RA
2
directed towards the apex of the tegmen; RA
1
upright, at almost 90˚to costal margin; RA
2
with 3 or 4 branches; RP simple; one
ir
, at ½ length of RP; one
r-m
, at same level as, or slightly proximal to
ir
, at about ½ length of M
1+2
; M with 4 branches, M
1+2
fork distal to that of M
3+4
; one
im
, between M
1+2
and M
3
; M
1+2
evenly forked, M
3
deflected at
im
; intra-medial cell short and quite broad,
c
. 3 times longer than wide, deflected towards CuA at
m-cua
which is at ½ length of M
3+4
; CuA just distal to basal cell strongly curved and very closely approximating claval suture; CuA fork quite shallow, at about level of apex of clavus, well beyond level of M fork;
m-cua
between M
3+4
and CuA
.
Notes.
Evans originally placed all three genera in the
Scytinopteridae
, an attribution supported by Bekker- Migdisova (1962),
Carpenter (1992
– although also noting
Triassoscytina
as “Family position uncertain”) and
Martins-Neto
et al
. (2003)
(but as Scytinopteromorpha). Later
Evans (1964)
considered
Mesothymbris
and
Triassoscytinopsis
as cicadelloids, whereas
Jell (2004)
retained
Triassoscytina
and
Triassoscytinopsis
in the
Scytinopteridae
, but ascribed
Mesothymbris
to the
Cicadellidae
. Notwithstanding the fact that the definition, generic composition and classification of the
Hylicellidae
remain unresolved, the attribution of the three genera to the family by
Hamilton (1992)
is supported herein.
Shcherbakov (1988
,
2012
) proposed a division of the
Hylicellidae
into three subfamilies: Hylicellinae
Evans, 1956
, based on the genotype
Hylicella
Evans, 1956
; Vietocylinae
Shcherbakov, 1988
, comprising
Cycloscytina
Martynov, 1926
, and
Vietocycla
Shcherbakov, 1988
, with a tegmen diagnosis of “basal cell closed by point of anastomosis, several post-nodal branches of R, no less than two r-m and four of M” (
Shcherbakov 1988
); and Conjucellinae
Shcherbakov, 2012
, comprising
Conjucella
Shcherbakov, 2012
,
Cinemala
Shcherbakov, 2012
,
Homopterites
Handlirsch, 1906
, and
Liassocercopis
Ansorge, 1996
, with a tegmen differing from other hylicellids in “the poor vein branching, absence of arcular fold, trait to align arculus with CuA base, and medial cell small and/or contiguous with radial cell and/or CuA fork” (
Shcherbakov 2012
). The tegmen of
Mesothymbris
does not conform with the above diagnoses nor the published illustrations of the tegmina of the genera of the Vietocyclinae or Conjucellinae. The third subfamily, Hylicellinae, lacks clear definition, and so at this stage
Mesothymbris
can only be designated as
Hylicellidae
incertae sedis
. It is, however, clearly distinct from the other Mount Crosby hylicellids,
Hylicella
and
Triassocotis
Evans, 1956
(the position of
Triassoscelis
Evans, 1956
, based only on the apical half of the tegmen, remains unclear) in the quite distal forking of R, just before that of M (much more proximal in the other two genera); the distinct angle in RA at the point of separation of RA
1
, with RA
2
directed apically (in the other two genera RA not angled, with RA
2
continuing antero-apically); the upright RA
1
(inclined in the other two genera); the quite broad intra-medial cell,
c
. 3 times longer than wide (even broader in
Hylicella
,
c
. 2 times longer than wide, but much narrower in
Triassocotis
,
c
. 4 times longer than wide); M
3+4
separate from CuA
1
(M
3+4
and CuA
1
fused for a short length in
Hylicella
, therefore no
m-cua
);
m-cua
at about ½ length of M
3+4
and running to CuA (at about ¼ length of M
3+4
, and running to CuA
1
in
Triassocotis
); CuA just beyond the basal cell strongly curved and closely approximating the claval suture (gently curved and more distant in the other two genera); and in the shallow fork of CuA (similar in
Hylicella
, much deeper in
Triassocotis
, at about same level as that of M, and well before the apex of the clavus).
Evans (1956)
ascribed three species to his
Triassoscytinopsis
, the
type
species and
T. aberrans
Evans
, both from Mount Crosby, and
T. paranotalis
Evans
from the Triassic of Brookvale,
New South Wales
. Both the
type
species and
T
.
aberrans
are synonyms of the
type
species of
Mesothymbris
, however,
T. paranotalis
, apparently with an inclined RA
1
and three inter-radial crossveins (
Evans 1956
, fig. 5A), almost certainly belongs elsewhere.