A new species of Enchenopa ( Hemiptera : Membracidae ) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Enchenopa luizae sp. nov. (holotype female from Brazil, State of São Paulo, municipality of São José dos Campos, Parque Natural Municipal Augusto Ruschi at 23°04’05°S”, 45°56’22”W, 06.VIII.2011, R. La Rosa leg. deposited in DZUP) is described and diagnosed from the Atlantic Forest Vale do Paraíba, São Paulo, Brazil. The new species is very similar to Enchenopa monoceros (Germar, 1821) in overall aspects but much larger and with inconspicuous lateral secondary carinae. The fourth instar nymph is also briefly characterized.

Enchenopa Amyot & Serville, 1843 is one of the largest genera within the treehopper tribe Membracini.The members of this genus are all morphologically similar, making the species identification very difficult.The main features that define this group are: pronotum produced anteriorly in a more or less developed horn (anterior process), ornated with a pair of strong lateral carinae that extend from the tip of the anterior process to the mid-lateral portion of the posterior process, and two to four secondary short carinae on each side of the metopidium.In some cases, the anterior process may be reduced or simply angulate, as in Leioscyta Fowler, 1894.Species of this genus, however, lack secondary carinae.Enchenopa was described by AMYOT & SERVILLE (1843)

Figs. 1-6
Diagnosis.Entirely black, except forewings with apical translucent whitish area close to internal angle; legs with tarsal segments yellow.Anterior pronotal process short, obtuse; lateral carinae conspicuous, extended from apex of horn to mid-lateral of posterior process; secondary carinae short and barely visible.
Description.Female holotype.General color dull black; forewings opaque with a whitish translucent spot at apical margins extended through part of limbus (Fig. 1); undersurface of thorax, abdomen, and legs, black, tarsi yellow.
Head triangular (Fig. 2), wider than long; eyes globose, egg-shaped in lateral view; ocelli conspicuous, closer to eyes than to each other; vertex almost flat, superior margin arched, suprantennal ledges triangular; frontoclypeus laminar, rounded apically.Pronotum, in lateral view, more or less triangular; anterior process obliquely projected above head, short, blunt, relatively wide and rounded at apex (Figs. 1, 3); median carina well marked and foliaceous; posterior process tectiform, acuminated, attaining internal angle of forewings; lateral carinae strong, extended from apex of anterior process to about midlateral of posterior process; secondary carinae very weak, two at each side of metopidium, barely visible (Fig. 1).
Nymph.A single nymph has been collected, probably of the fourth instar (Figs.4-6), together with the holotype female.It closely resembles the nymphs of other species of Enchenopa.The body is somewhat recurved, with very conspicuous coloration, with yellow, whitish-yellow, and black bands.Head yellow, eyes black; pronotum, lacking anterior process, black with the posterior angle (posterior process) yellow; a black transversal band at mid-pronotum showing, in dorsal view, a yellow diamond-shaped patch; meso-and metanotum black, bearing dorsally a pair of small scoli; wing-pads yellow and black; abdomen with the basal four visible segments yellow, the rest black; all the segments with a pair of dorsal scoli, with the same color as the segments, slightly bent backward; legs yellow.Etymology.The species is dedicated to Luiza Maria de Atayde Lencioni (first author's wife) for her support on his research activities.
Remarks.This new species is similar to E. monoceros (Fig. 7) in having the body entirely black, short and blunt anterior process, and opaque forewings with translucent apical spot.However, E. luizae sp.nov. is almost twice as large, and shows very weak secondary carinae, which are almost imperceptible; the translucent spot on the forewings is smaller, confined to the apical limbus.
(HAVILAND 1925)for the first time in Brazil, based on specimens from state of São Paulo.It was originally described from Guiana(HAVILAND 1925), and was subsequently recorded for Colombia and Venezuela (STRÜMPEL & STRÜMPEL 2014).Recently, STRÜMPEL & STRÜMPEL (2014) revised Enchenopa, providing comprehensive species descriptions, identification keys, and illustrations.They recognized 116 valid species, 25 of which are found in Brazil.In this paper, a new species is described from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest municipality of São José dos Campos, Vale do Paraíba, state of São Paulo.