A new species of Pachyopsis Uhler (Homoptera: Cicadellidae: Iassinae) from Southeastern Brazil

Uma nova espécie de Pachyopsis Uhler (Homoptera: Cicadellidae: Iassinae) do Sudeste do Brasil

SYSTEMATICS, MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY

A new species of Pachyopsis Uhler (Homoptera: Cicadellidae: Iassinae) from Southeastern Brazil

Uma nova espécie de Pachyopsis Uhler (Homoptera: Cicadellidae: Iassinae) do Sudeste do Brasil

Luci B.N. Coelho

Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Caixa postal 68044, 21944-970, Rio de Janeiro, RJ; e-mail: [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

A new leafhopper, Pachyopsis vicosensis n.sp., is described from state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The new species is more closely related to P. foratus Kramer.

Key words: Insecta, leafhopper, taxonomy, neotropics

RESUMO

Pachyopsis vicosensis sp.n., uma nova espécie de cigarrinha procedente do Estado de Minas Gerais é descrita. A nova espécie está mais proximamente relacionada a P. foratus Kramer.

Palavras-chave: Insecta, cigarrinha, taxonomia, neotrópico

The genus Pachyopsis Uhler was described based on a single species from Western United States, P. laetus Uhler (Kramer 1963), which was later redescribed in detail by Oman (1949). Kramer (1963) described three species, P. calceus Kramer from Ecuador, P. foratus Kramer from Mexico, and P. similis Kramer from state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and keyed the known species of this genus.

In this paper, a new species of Pachyopsis is described from state of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. The type specimens are deposited in the Museu Regional de Entomologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, state of Minas Gerais, and in the Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Pachyopsisvicosensis n.sp.

(Figs. 1-3)

Length of holotype male 5.28 mm. General color yellowish; venter including legs and lower portion of face pale yellow; upper portion of clypeus and vertex brown; eyes and ocelli red; pronotum and scutellum yellow; fore wings hyaline, veins greenish, mainly in costal area.

Vertex 11.5 times as wide between eyes at base as median length, length near eye twice as median length; pronotum transversally striated with maximum width approximately 2.5 times as median length; fore wings without extra veinlets in apical portions.

Pygofer in lateral view with apex truncated, inner ventral process enlarged near base, gradually narrowing to apex and slightly upturned distally; anal tube long. Subgenital plate with apex rounded and with hair-like setae. Style typical of the genus, not broadened preapically. Aedeagus in lateral view with a deep ventral excavation; gonopore membranous.

Etymology: vicosensis, from Viçosa, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Material. Holotype male (UFV): Brazil. Minas Gerais, Viçosa, Mata do Paraíso, 10/VI/1988, P.S.F.Ferreira leg. Paratypes: same locality and collector of holotype, 1 male (UFRJ), 30/III/1983; 1 male (UFV), 02/XII/1986 and 1 specimen (UFV) without abdomen (probably female), 24/III/1982.

Discussion

Three paratypes were studied, two of them (male specimens) with morphological and morphometrical characteristics identical to those of the holotype. Another paratype, a specimen without abdomen, is bigger than the others (5.5 mm in length), its vertex is 8.5 times as wide between eyes at base as the median length, and the maximum width of its pronotum is 2.5 times as wide as the median length. According to these measurements probably this specimen is a female. About the general color pattern of Pachyopsis vicosensis n.sp., it could be supposed that green was the original color, being lost due the time of preservation.

This new species is more closely related to P. foratus based on the general shape of the genital plates and the color pattern. The presence of a ventral concavity in the aedeagus (Fig. 2) and the typical shape and smaller size of the inner process of the pygofer (Fig. 1) distinguish P. vicosensis n.sp. from P. foratus and the other species of Pachyopsis.

Acknowledgments

I thank Prof. Elidiomar R. Da-Silva (Universidade do Rio de Janeiro), Dr. Jorge L. Nessimian, Dr. Alcimar L. Carvalho, Prof. Gabriel L.F. Mejdalani, and Prof. Márcio E. Felix (UFRJ) for critical reading of this paper. I am also very grateful to Dr. Paulo S.F. Ferreira (UFV), for collecting and loaning the studied specimens. This research was partially funded by CAPES/PICD/UFRJ.

Literature Cited

Received 17/IV/98. Accepted 15/III/99.

• Kramer, J.P. 1963. A key to the New World genera of Iassinae with reviews of Scaroidana and Pachyopsis (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Bull.Brooklyn Entomol.Soc. 58: 37-50.
• Oman, P.W. 1949 The Nearctic leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae), a generic classification and check list. Mem.Entomol.Soc.Wash. 3: 1-253.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  29 May 2006
• Date of issue
  June 1999

History

• Received
  17 Apr 1998
• Accepted
  15 Mar 1999