A review of New World Malaxa (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Delphacidae)
Author
Bartlett, Charles R.
Author
Kennedy, Ashley C.
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-06-28
4441
3
511
528
journal article
29792
10.11646/zootaxa.4441.3.5
48399650-4520-4f8c-b95e-3ed010ce1c95
1175-5326
1301482
D40D474F-A461-4F3C-967E-C833FFB342F3
Lamaxa
,
new genus
(
Figures 7–18
,
25–26
,
36
,
38, 40–42
)
Type species
.
Malaxa occidentalis
Muir, 1926
.
Description
.
Color
. Brownish-orange with brown and paler markings; wings clear with characteristic dark (and sometimes pale) markings.
Structure.
Body slender and elongate; length (from apex of vertex to tip of tegmina) males
x ‾
=
4.97 mm
(
4.71–5.33 mm
, n=5); females
x ‾
=
5.31 mm
(
5.10–5.62 mm
, n=6). Head much narrower than pronotum (
Figs. 7, 10
), carinae concolorous. Lateral carinae of clypeus, frons (~metope) and vertex (~coryphe) distinct, other carinae obscure, especially near fastigium. Frons elongate and parallel-sided, widest near frontoclypeal suture, narrowed to fastigium (
Figs. 9, 12
; l:w
x ‾
= 2.6:1). Vertex longer than broad at base (l:w
x ‾
= 1.4:1), distally narrowing and projected slightly in front of eyes; submedian carinae uniting before fastigium, basal compartments longer than wide. Rostrum reaching or exceeding metathoracic trochanters. Antennae cylindrical, both segments very long (
Figs. 10, 12
), surpassing apex of clypeus (and apex of mesonotum), segment I close to half length of II (ratio I:II 0.4–0.5:1), length antennal segment I
x ‾
=
0.47 mm
, II =
1.05 mm
. Pronotum shorter than vertex in middle line, lateral carinae usually not attaining hind margin. Mesonotum longer in middle line than vertex and pronotum together. Wings elongate, much longer than abdomen, nodus at about 2/3 length, apex acutely rounded (
Fig. 36
). Spinal formula of hind leg 5-7-5 (or 5-6-5). Calcar thick, concave on inner surface, without teeth along the hind margin, with an apical tooth. Pygofer irregularly quadrilateral in lateral view (
Fig. 26
). In caudal view, opening carinate, with midventral forked process (
Figs. 13
,
25
), broad lamellate medioventral processes absent. Dorsocaudal margins of pygofer expanded and inflected to partially enclose anal tube (
Fig. 42
), diaphragm evident, armature absent. Gonostyli broad basally, basal angles prominent, diverging and narrowed distally to apically to blunt or acute apex (
Figs. 25
,
40
). Aedeagus elongate and tubular with large, flattened, poorly sclerotized subapical process (
Figs. 14
,
38
; representing a flagellum?). Anal tube (anal segment) small, without processes.
Remarks
.
Lamaxa
differs from
Malaxa acutipennis
in having a parallel-sided wing with a rounded apex (vs. pointed with an arched leading wing edge in
Malaxa acutipennis
); antennae are similar in proportion but nearly twice as long in
Lamaxa
than
Malaxa acutipennis
(and lacking the ventral carina on I); the genitalia of
Lamaxa
bear a forked projection on the pygofer opening, whereas
Malaxa acutipennis
is simple; and the dorsocaudal margin of the pygofer is expanded in
Lamaxa
but not in
Malaxa
. The aedeagus of
Lamaxa
is slightly curved and caudally directed, bearing weakly sclerotized apical projections (vs. downcurved in
Malaxa acutipennis
).
Lamaxa
differs from the Chinese
Malaxa
in structural proportions along with distinctive features of the male genitalia.
Lamaxa
is larger than the Chinese
Malaxa
, the vertex is more elongate, the lateral carinae of the pronotum are laterally curved, usually not reaching the hind margin, and the spinulation of the hind leg is 5-7-5 (or 5-6-5) (instead of 5-6-4). More distinctly, in
Lamaxa
, the anal tube is without processes, whereas in Chinese
Malaxa
, the anal tube bears a single (sometimes 2), large usually strongly asymmetrical process(es). In
Lamaxa
, the dorsocaudal angle of the pygofer is projected (simple in Chinese
Malaxa
), and the midventral portion of the pygofer opening bears a forked process, whereas in Chinese
Malaxa
, there are “two broad lamellate medioventral processes, between of them with a V-like emargination” (
Hou
et al
. 2013
: 867), although these are reduced in some species. In Chinese
Malaxa
, the aedeagus is downcurved and C-shaped, whereas in
Lamaxa
the aedeagus is slightly curved and caudally directed, bearing weakly sclerotized apical projections, missing from Chinese
Malaxa
.
Species included are
Lamaxa gracilis
(
Fennah, 1945
)
and
Lamaxa occidentalis
(
Muir, 1926
)
. Two female specimens, probably representing additional species of
Lamaxa
were examined (listed below under ‘females tentatively assigned to
Lamaxa
’). One was a specimen from
Honduras
that was similar to the coloration of
Lamaxa occidentalis
, except that the face (frons, genae, clypeus) were broadly black except for a strongly contrasting pale stripe above the frontoclypeal suture, also bearing more substantially embrowned wings. The second, from southern
Brazil
, was very pale yellowish with weakly marked wings, a dark longitudinal line along both segments of the antennae, and partially embrowned legs.
Etymology
. The new genus name “
Lamaxa
” is an anagram of “
Malaxa
”, and is to be understood as feminine in gender.