New species, synonymies and life-histories in the South-East Asian treehopper genus Pyrgauchenia Breddin (Auchenorrhyncha: Membracidae: Centrotinae)
Author
Stegmann, U. E.
Author
Webb, M. D.
Author
Linsenmair, K. E.
text
Journal of Natural History
2002
2002-02-28
36
3
279
303
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222930010023457
journal article
10.1080/00222930010023457
1464-5262
5299643
Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsis
Stegmann & Webb
sp. nov.
(®gures 1A±F, 6, 7)
Diagnosis
Anterior process of pronotum moderately broad and bent backwards with comparatively large distal lobes in males but small distal lobes in females, the latter represented by two morphs. The male genitalia are similar to
P. colorata
, but can be distinguished by the aedeagus having (i) an invisible or minute gonopore (®gure 6K), (ii) more elongate and slightly bent apical region of the shaft above the gonopore in lateral view (®gure 6J), and (iii) a more slender outline of the aedeagus in posterior view (®gure 6I).
Description
Length:,
5.6±6.5 mm
(
seven specimens
) (mean 6.0 mm);,
5.7±6.3 mm
(
eight specimens
) (mean 6.0 mm). Length of anterior process:,
4.3±5.4 mm
(mean
4.7 mm
);,
3.5±3.9 mm
(mean
3.7 mm
).
Colour
. Male: uniformly dark brown except for base of posterior process and tibiae, yellow-ocracheous, and a hyaline spot near the tip of clavus (®gure 6A). Female: same as male (®gure 6B) or with pronotum and spots on the tegmen ochraceous (®gure 6H).
Pronotum
. Male: anterior process moderately bent posteriorly and moderately broad in lateral view (®gure 6A); point A not pointed (®gure 6C); lateral carina near to anterior margin, especially so towards point A (®gure 6C); distal end of anterior process at about 45ss (®gure 6A, C); subapical node low and indistinct (®gure 6A). Female: there are two morphs diOEering from the male by the following characters: anterior process either about
1 mm
shorter than in the male with its distal lobes much smaller and more slender (®gure 6B, D) or anterior process strongly curved posterio-ventrall y in a spiral with its distal end angulate, orientated vertical to anterior-dorsal relative to long-body axis (®gure 6F±H) and its tip broadened or heart-shaped (®gure 6G); in both female morphs the subapical node is distinct and higher than in the males (®gure 6B, H).
Genitalia
. Male: shaft of aedeagus moderately broad in posterior view (®gure 6I), its tip slightly bent anteriorly and its posterior margin, below gonopore, strongly convex, in lateral view (®gure 6J); gonopore, when visible, minute (®gure 6K); apical part of posterior part of style long (®gure 6L), its apex bent medio-ventrally and tapering to a subacute tip (®gure 6L, M).
Nymphs
. The ®ve nymphal stages are distinguished thus (for changes in width of prothorax see
table 3
):
1st Instar
: Length approximately
1.2 mm
with increasing abdominal expansion of older individuals. No projection on the pronotum (®gure 7A); no tergal extensions of the 6th to 8th abdominal segments (®gure 7B); 9th segment with a short projection dorsal and two projections ventral to the anal tube (®gure 7A, B).
2nd Instar
: Length approximately
2.2 mm
. Slight, but distinct projection on the pronotum (®gure 7C); slight extensions of the 6th to 8th abdominal segments (®gure 7D); projections of the 9th segment become progressively longer in this and the following stages (®gure 7D).
3rd Instar
: Length approximately
2.8 mm
. Pronotal projection conspicuous (®gure 7E); extensions of the 6th to 8th abdominal segments distinct (®gure 7F).
4th Instar
: Length approximately
3.4 mm
. Pronotum triangular and tapering in lateral view (®gure 7G); extensions of the 6th to 8th segments long (®gure 7H).
5th Instar
: Length approximately
4.9 mm
. Pronotum with a distinct posterior process with its dorsal margin curved convexly in females (®gure 7K) and nearly straight in males (®gure 7J); anterior margin of pronotum convexly bent in both sexes; males with a spatulate margin on the pronotum (®gure 7J), indistinct in females (arrowed in ®gure 7K); long, spine-like abdominal extensions (®gure 7I). Head with two dorsal projections (®gure 7L).
Distribution
Mt Kinabalu (
Sabah
,
Malaysia
).
Material examined
HOLOTYPE
,,
Malaysia
,
Sabah
,
Kinabalu National Park
Headquarters
(6ss01¾N, 116ss33¾E),
1500 m
, leg.
U. E. Stegmann
,
15 December 1998
(
BMNH
)
.
PARATYPES
, 3, same data as holotype; 4, 8
,
same data as holotype except
17 and 26 April 1996
, and 3 February,
26 April and 16 November 1997
(all
BMNH
,
DEI
)
.
Remarks
This species is known from only one population at
1410±1610 m
at the headquarters area on Mt Kinabalu, although its host-plants were also found at higher (up to
2000 m
) and lower elevations (
1150 m
). This indicates a speci®c altitudinal range. There are
two female
morphs, with or without a strongly curved pronotal process (see description of pronotum above); polymorphisms of this
type
are rare within the
Membracidae
(
Wood, 1976
;
Carroll and Loye, 1986
). Although in the
type
series, females with or without a strongly curved pronotal process are ochraceous or brown in colour, respectively, the reverse situation was also noted in the ®eld population.
FIG. 6.
Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsis
. (A, B) Habitus, right lateral and frontal view: (A) male; (B) female. (C±E) Distal lobes of anterior process of pronotum: (C) left lateral view of male (lower: holotype); (D, E) anterodorsal views, female and male, respectively (dotted line indicates median carina). (F) Anterior part of pronotum of female morph, left lateral view. (G) Apex of anterior process of female morph (posterior view). (H) Habitus, female morph, right lateral and frontal view. (I±K) Aedeagus, posterior, left lateral and apical view, respectively (holotype: (I) left, (K) lower) (broken line in (J) indicates gonoduct on posterior side and median groove on anterior side). (L) Left style in lateral view (lower: holotype) (broken line indicates membrane connecting styles; marked distance with arrowhead indicates perspective of (M )). (M) Left style in posterior view, i.e. as indicated by arrowhead in (L) (left: holotype) (line indicates median plane).
This species was found on many host-plant species and families (
table 4
). Eggs were deposited and guarded as in
P. biuni
. Most aggregations of nymphs and adults were visited by a
Myrmicaria
sp.
but some others by
Camponotus
sp.
, and
Prenolepis
1st instars 2nd instars 3rd instars 4th instars 5th instars
FIG. 7. Nymphs of
Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsis
. (A, B) First instar: (A) habitus left lateral view, rostrum and legs not drawn; (B) apex of abdomen, dorsal view. (C, D) second instar, ditto. (E, F) Third instar, ditto. (G, H) Fourth instar, ditto. (I, J) Fifth instar: (I) apex of abdomen; (J) habitus, left lateral view, rostrum and legs not drawn. (K) Pronotum left lateral view (®fth instar female, for arrow see text). (L) Head and thorax, dorsal view (®fth instar). 1st, 2nd, 3rd Instars and 4th±5th Instars drawn to scale, respectively.
Table 3. Nymphal growth in
P. tristaniopsis
: greatest prothoracic width (mean SD;
N
) when viewed from dorsal (®gure 7L).
0.49Ô
0.03;
13 0.7Ô
0.03;
11 0.9Ô
0.04;
14 1.14Ô
0.07;
11 1.49Ô
0.09; 10
Flacourtiaceae
Flacourtia kinabaluensis
Sleum.
Table 4. Host-plants of
Pyrgauchenia tristaniopsis
.
Lauraceae
Lindera pipericarpa
Boerl.
Melastomataceae
Melastoma malabathricum
Linn.
Myrtaceae
Tristaniopsis clementis
(Merr.) Wilson & Waterhouse
Rosaceae
Rubus moluccanus
Linn.
Rubiaceae
Nauclea
?bernardoi
Merr.
Uncaria
sp.
Wendlandia
sp.
Theaceae
Adinandra excelsa
Korth.
Urticaceae
Debregeasia longifolia
Wedd.
Pouzolzia sanguinea
(Blume) Merrill
sp. The name of this species is derived from of the host-plant
Tristaniopsis clementis
(Merr.) Wilson & Waterhouse on which it was found for the ®rst time.