SYSTEMATICS, MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY

The Sharpshooter Genus Geitogonalia Young: Descriptionsof a New Brazilian Species and of the Female of Geitogonaliaquatuordecimmaculata (Taschenberg) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

G MEJDALANI1, RR CAVICHIOLI2

1Depto de Entomologia, Museu Nacional, Univ Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil2Depto de Zoologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Univ Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brasil

AbstractKeywords

Auchenorrhyncha, Cicadellinae, Leafhopper,Morphology, Taxonomy

CorrespondenceG Mejdalani, Depto de Entomologia, MuseuNacional, Universidade Federal do Riode Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, SãoCristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil;mejdalan@acd.ufrj.br

Edited by Takumasa Kondo — Corpoica

Received 23 January 2014 and accepted 10April 2014

* Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil 2014

The sharpshooter genus Geitogonalia Young was so far known from a singlespecies from Southeastern Brasil—Geitogonalia quatuordecimmaculata(Taschenberg). A new species, Geitogonalia viridis, is described and illustrat-ed in this paper based onmales and females from the state of Rio de Janeiro.In addition, the female of G. quatuordecimmaculata is for the first timedescribed and illustrated in detail. Geitogonalia quatuordecimmaculata is adark species marked with bright orange on the fore wings, whereas the newspecies has the corium and clavus of the fore wings mostly green. Theparaphyses are well developed in G. quatuordecimmaculata, with elongaterami, whereas they are inconspicuous in G. viridis, with the rami modified asa pair of very small sclerites.

Introduction

Geitogonalia Young was so far known from a single species,Geitogonalia quatuordecimmaculata (Taschenberg), original-ly described from an unknown locality in Brasil and currentlyrecorded from Southeastern Brasil—state of Rio de Janeiro(Young 1977, Zanol & de Menezes 1982, Mejdalani et al2010). This genus can be recognized by the following combi-nation of features: (1) thorax with pronotal width greaterthan transocular width of head; (2) connective T-shaped; (3)style with apex truncate and with distinct outer anteapicallobe; (4) aedeagus with ventral margin concave and with pairof apical processes directed dorsally; (5) paraphyses present;and (6) female sternite VII with dentiform projection at themiddle of posterior margin. Young (1977) provided a detaileddescription of the genus but gave no illustrations of thefemale genitalia. He included Geitogonalia in the Juliacageneric group and “placed it near JuliacaMelichar, but noneof the species of Juliaca have aedeagal processes exceptJuliaca peragilis (Melichar) and they are apical in that spe-cies” (Young 1977: 526).

Here, we describe a second species of Geitogonalia fromthe Atlantic Forest of the state of Rio de Janeiro,Geitogonalia viridis n. sp., based on males and females. Inaddition, we provide the first detailed description of thefemale of G. quatuordecimmaculata. A comparison betweenthe two species is added.

Material and Methods

Techniques for the preparation of male and female genitalstructures follow Oman (1949) and Mejdalani (1998), respec-tively. The dissected genital parts are stored in small vialswith glycerin and attached below the specimens, as sug-gested by Young & Beirne (1958). The descriptive terminolo-gy adopted herein follows mainly Young (1977), except forthe facial areas of the head (Hamilton 1981, Mejdalani 1993,1998) and the female genitalia (Nielson 1965, Hill 1970). Useof the term gonoplac (=third ovipositor valvula) and thenames of the sculptured areas of the first ovipositor valvulaefollow Mejdalani (1998). Photographs of the first and secondvalvulae were taken with a digital camera attached to a light

Neotrop EntomolDOI 10.1007/s13744-014-0220-2

microscope. Label data are quoted exactly with a reversedvirgule (\) separating lines on the labels. The specimens studiedbelong to the following institutions: Depto de Entomologia,Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro(MNRJ, Rio de Janeiro); Coleção Entomológica Prof. JoséAlfredo Pinheiro Dutra, Depto de Zoologia, Instituto deBiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (DZRJ, Rio deJaneiro); and Coleção Entomológica Pe. Jesus Santiago Moure,Depto de Zoologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, UniversidadeFederal do Paraná (DZUP, Curitiba).

Results

Geitogonalia viridis n. sp. (Figs 1–8, 9–16)

Measurements (male, n=1/female, n=1). Length of body6.8/7.5 mm; median length of crown 0.44/0.52 mm;interocular distance 0.83/0.95 mm; transocular distance1.35/1.45 mm; median length of pronotum 0.94/1.02 mm;largest width of pronotum 1.43/1.64 mm; median length ofvisible portion of mesonotum 0.64/0.68 mm; largest widthof visible portion of mesonotum 0.90/0.98 mm; and lengthof fore wing 5.7/6.3 mm.

Head (Fig 1) well produced anteriorly, median length ofcrown approximately 1/2 of the interocular width and 3/10of the transocular width; anterior margin broadly rounded indorsal view, without carina at transition from crown to face;ocelli located on imaginary line between anterior eye angles,each ocellus approximately equidistant between the midlineof crown and adjacent anterior eye angle; frontogenal su-tures extending onto crown but not attaining ocelli; coronalsuture indistinct. Antennal ledges (Fig 1), in dorsal view, notprotuberant; in lateral view, with anterior margins obliqueand convex. Frons (Fig 2) convex with distinct muscle impres-sions; epistomal suture obsolete medially; clypeus notproduced, its profile continuing contour of frons superiorlyand more horizontal inferiorly, apex rounded.

Thorax (Fig 1) with pronotal width greater than transocularwidth of head; pronotum with lateral margins distinctlyconvergent anteriorly; posterior margin slightly emarginatemedially; disk smooth and without pubescence; dorsopleuralcarinae complete. Mesonotum with scutellum not trans-versely striate. Fore wings with apical cells and stripe alongcostal margin (extending basally slightly anterad of outeranteapical cell) mostly membranous; veins distinct, not ele-vated; with four apical cells, base of fourth more proximalthan base of third; with three closed anteapical cells; theirbases located approximately at the level of the apex ofclavus; inner anteapical cell strongly narrowed posteriorly.

Hind wings with vein R2+3 incomplete. Hind legs withfemoral setal formula 2+1+1 (Fig 2); length of the firsttarsomere is greater than the combined length of two moredistal tarsomeres and with two parallel rows of small setaeon the plantar surface.

Color. Ground color of anterior dorsum (crown, pronotum,andmesonotum) dark brown to black (Fig 1). Crown with pairof transverse greenish-yellow maculae extending from an-tennal ledges and almost reaching midline; coronal apex withpair of yellow maculae (originated from the face), with orwithout median greenish-yellow spot. Pronotum with a verybroad greenish-yellow to green transverse stripe.Mesonotum with a pair of lateroposterior greenish-yellowspots on mesoscutum; mesoscutellum entirely greenish-yellow, continuous with mesoscutum spots. Fore wings(Fig 1) with corium and clavus green; membrane brown;narrow dark brown to black stripe along costal margin (con-tinuous posteriorly with membrane); veins mostly greenish-yellow, but R and CuP brown. Face (Fig 2) with two maculaeon superior portion of frons (extending to crown), connectedor not inferiorly to elongate median macula, yellow;greenish-yellow area on gena and adjacent lateroinferiorportion of frons; antennal ledges greenish-yellow; rostrumdark brown. Lateral lobe of pronotum, posterior portion ofanepisternum and much of epimeron greenish-yellow. Legsare yellowish-brown to dark brown.

Male genitalia with pygofer (Fig 5), in lateral view, wellproduced posteriorly; posterior margin broadly rounded;without processes; macrosetae distributed mostly on poste-rior half of disk and extending more anteriorly along theventral and dorsal margins, microsetae also present. Valve(Fig 3), in ventral view, subrectangular and constricted me-dially. Subgenital plates (Fig 4), in ventral view, triangular,narrowing gradually towards apex, apical third very narrow,not fused to each other basally, with uniseriate row ofmacrosetae along outer lateral margin, microsetae also pres-ent; in lateral view, not extending as far posteriorly aspygofer. Connective (Fig 6), in dorsal view, T-shaped, stalklong and narrow, distinctly longer than arms, keeled dorsally.Styles (Fig 6), in dorsal view, with apophysis elongate, dis-tinctly longer than apodeme, extending approximatelyas far posteriorly as connective; with lobe on the outermedian portion bearing single elongate seta, apex nar-row, obliquely truncate. Aedeagus (Figs 7, 8) symmet-rical; shaft, in lateral view, elongate, strongly constrict-ed apically; apex with pair of spiniform processes di-rected dorsally; in ventral view, posterior 2/3 of shaftnarrowed. Paraphyses (Fig 8) present but very small,formed by basal transverse plate and pair of sclero-tized sclerites (rami), apical half of rami narrowed,spiniform, directed outwards.

Mejdalani & Cavichioli

Female genitalia. Abdominal sternite VII (Fig 9), in ventralview, elongate, posterior margin transverse with distinctdentiform projection at the middle. Internal sternite VIII, indorsal view, without distinct sclerotized areas. Pygofer(Fig 10), in lateral view, strongly produced posteriorly, pos-terior margin narrowly rounded, and macrosetae locatedmostly on posterior portion and extending anteriorly alongventral margin. First valvulae of ovipositor (Figs 11, 12), inventral view, with basal portion distinctly expanded; blade, inlateral view, with apex acute; dorsal sculptured area extend-ing from basal portion of blade to apex, formed mostly byoblique scale-like processes except for more linear processesbasally; ventral sculptured area restricted to apical portion of

blade, formed mostly by scale-like processes; ventralinterlocking device restricted to basal half of blade, locatedalong ventral margin with distal portion directed dor-sally. Second valvulae of ovipositor (Figs 13–16), inlateral view, moderately expanded beyond basal curva-ture; dorsal margin moderately convex; ventral marginwith slight preapical prominence; apex subacute; bladewith about 25 subtriangular continuous teeth; denticlesdistributed on teeth and on dorsal and ventral apicalportions of blade; ducts extending to the apical portionof blade and to teeth or terminating below them(about five basal-most teeth do not receive ducts).Gonoplacs, in lateral view, with basal half narrow and

Figs 1–8 Geitogonalia viridis n. sp. 1 body, male (length 6.8 mm), dorsal view (antennae and legs not depicted); 2 anterior portion of the body,anteroventral view (male specimen); 3–8 male genitalia: 3 valve, ventral view; 4 subgenital plate, ventral view; 5 pygofer, lateral view; 6 connectiveand style, dorsal view; 7 aedeagus, lateral view; 8 paraphyses and aedeagus, ventral view. ASH aedeagal shaft, PAB basal plate of paraphyses, PARramus of paraphyses. Scale bars: Figs 3–5=0.5 mm, Figs 6–8=0.3 mm.

The sharpshooter genus Geitogonalia

apical half distinctly expanded; apex obtuse, narrow;blade with many tiny spiniform processes and fewmacrosetae on the apical portion and extending ante-riorly along ventral margin.

Material examined. Atlantic Forest, Southeastern Brasil.Holotype: male, “ALTO DA CASCATINHA \ N. [Nova]FRIBURGO - RJ [state of Rio de Janeiro] \ 26/V/1991 \ L. B.N. COELHO” (DZRJ). Paratypes: one female, same data asholotype (DZRJ); one female, “PARNASO [Parque Nacional daSerra dos Órgãos] / Guapimirim \ RJ/Brasil IV/2007 \ Lab.Ecologia de \ insetos - UFRJ” (MNRJ); two males and onefemale, “PARNASO/RJ/Brasil \ VIII/2007 \ Lab. Ecologia deinsetos/ \ UFRJ col.” (DZUP,MNRJ); one female, same data aspreceding, except “X/07” (DZUP).

Geitogonalia quatuordecimmaculata (Taschenberg)(Figs 17–24, 25–33)

Tettigonia quatuordecimmaculata (Taschenberg 1884: 447).Type locality “Brasilia” (Taschenberg 1884).

Cardioscarta seguyi Melichar 1932: 297. Type locality:“Nova Friburgo”, state of Rio de Janeiro (Young & Lauterer1966). Synonym established by Young (1977).

Measurements (male, n=1/female, n=1). Length of body7.0/7.6 mm; median length of crown 0.52/0.54 mm;interocular distance 0.93/1.08 mm; transocular distance1.50/1.62 mm; median length of pronotum 1.00/1.10 mm;largest width of pronotum 1.53/1.69 mm; median length of

Figs 9–16 Geitogonalia viridis n. sp. Female genitalia: 9 sternite VII, ventral view; 10 pygofer, lateral view; 11 first ovipositor valvula, lateral view; 12detail of dorsal and ventral sculptured areas at apical portion; 13 second ovipositor valvula, lateral view; 14 tooth at median portion; 15 teeth at apicalportion; 16 detail of apical portion. DEN denticle, DSA dorsal sculptured area, DUC duct, PPR preapical prominence, RAM ramus, TOO tooth, VIDventral interlocking device, VSA ventral sculptured area. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Mejdalani & Cavichioli

visible portion of mesonotum 0.70/0.87 mm; largest widthof visible portion of mesonotum 1.00/1.21 mm; and lengthof fore wing 5.7/6.2 mm.

Morphology. Head (Fig 17) with ocelli located slightly behindanterior eye angles. Posterior margin of pronotum (Fig 17)almost rectilinear. Fore wings (Fig 17) coriaceous, withoutdistinct membrane, venation not distinct. Male genitalia withpygofer (Fig 20), in lateral view, with posterior margin nar-rowly rounded. Styles (Fig 21), in dorsal view, with apexbroadly truncate, foot-shaped. Aedeagal shaft (Fig 22), inlateral view, constricted on basal half, distinctly concaveventrally, with pair of apical spiniform processes directeddorsoanteriorly; in ventral view (Fig 23), aedeagal shaftnarrowed anteapically. Paraphyses (Fig 24) conspicuous,formed by basal transverse plate and pair of elongate rami.Female genitalia with posterior margin of the abdominal

sternite VII (Fig 25), in ventral view, with pair of emargina-tions on each side of distinct median dentiform projection.Second valvulae of ovipositor (Fig 30) with about 20subtriangular continuous teeth. Other morphological fea-tures (Figs 17–24, 25–33) as described above for G. viridis n.sp.

Color (based on our specimens and on a photograph of thefemale lectotype (Fig 17)). Dorsum dark brown to black withcontrasting orange markings as follows: crown with pair ofspots adjacent to inner margins of ocelli and pair of lateralmarks (originated from antennal ledges) located along ante-rior portion of the eyes; pronotum with pair of maculae(lectotype) or with large, posteriorly incised transverse mac-ula; fore wings each with four large maculae, two on clavus(one on basal portion and another on apical portion) and twoon corium (one on basal half from claval sulcus to near costal

Figs 17–24 Geitogonalia quatuordecimmaculata 17 body, female lectotype (length 7.6 mm), dorsal view (antennae and legs not depicted; modifiedfromWilson et al (2009)); 18 anterior portion of the body, anteroventral view (female specimen); 19–24male genitalia: 19 valve and subgenital plate,ventral view; 20 pygofer, lateral view; 21 connective and style, dorsal view; 22 aedeagus, lateral view; 23 aedeagus, ventral view; 24 paraphyses,ventral view. PAB basal plate of paraphyses, PAR ramus of paraphyses. Scale bars: Figs 19, 20, 24=0.5 mm, Figs 21–23=0.3 mm.

The sharpshooter genus Geitogonalia

margin and another close to claval apex); the posterior marksof the clavus and corium can be confluent, due to a largercorium mark, as observed in the lectotype. Face (Fig 18)black; frons with pair of yellowish-orange spots superiorly(connected to each other or not) and, bellow latter, smalllongitudinal yellow stripe; antennal ledges orange; genaeyellow anteriorly; rostrum dark brown. Lateral and ventralportions of the thorax mostly dark brown to black; dorsalmargin of mesepimeron yellow. Legs brown with extensiveyellow areas.

Material examined. Atlantic Forest, Southeastern Brasil. Twomales and two females, “BR, RJ, PARNASO, sede \ Petrópolis,trilha cachoeira \ Véu da Noiva, 1300 - \ 1600 m alt. 25/8/

2010 \ A. Pinto & R. Carvalho Col” (MNRJ); two females, “BR/RJ, PARNASO, Petrópolis, \ trilha Véu da Noiva, 1300 - \1600 m 25/VIII/2010 \ R. A. Carvalho & A. P. Pinto” (MNRJ).

Discussion

The female lectotype of T. quatuordecimmaculata (fromBrasil) was designated by Young (1977) and is deposited atthe Taschenberg collection, Martin-Luther-Universität, Hallean der Salle. The digital image of the lectotype (Fig 17) pro-vided here was modified from the useful Internet site ofWilson et al (2009). In spite of the minor intraspecific varia-tion in coloration described above, the specimens herein

Figs 25–33 Geitogonalia quatuordecimmaculata, female genitalia: 25 sternite VII, ventral view; 26 pygofer, lateral view; 27 first ovipositor valvula,lateral view; 28 and 29 detail of dorsal and ventral sculptured areas, respectively, at apical portion; 30 second ovipositor valvula, lateral view; 31 teethat median portion (two blades visible); 32 teeth at apical portion; 33 detail of apical portion. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Mejdalani & Cavichioli

described are very similar to the lectotype coloration, andthe male genitalia are exactly like those illustrated by Young(1977: 525, fig 433) based on the lectotype of the juniorsynonym C. seguyi. Intraspecific variation of color inG. quatuordecimmaculata is also shown by Wilson et al(2009).

The male pygofer, subgenital plates, styles, connec-tive, aedeagus, and female sternite VII are similar inG. quatuordecimmaculata and G. viridis n. sp. The paraphy-ses are well developed in G. quatuordecimmaculata (Fig 24),with elongate rami, whereas they are inconspicuous inG. viridis (Fig 8), with the rami modified as a pair of verysmall sclerites with their apical half spiniform. Geitogonaliaquatuordecimmaculata (Fig 17) is a dark species marked withbright orange on the crown and fore wings (Taschenberg1884, Young 1977, Wilson et al 2009), whereas the newspecies (Fig 1) has the corium and clavus of the fore wingsmostly green. In addition, the new species can be distin-guished from G. quatuordecimmaculata by several otherfeatures, such as the following: (1) ocelli located on theimaginary line between the anterior eye angles (slightlybehind the anterior angles in G. quatuordecimmaculata);(2) each ocellus approximately equidistant between themidlineof crown and the adjacent anterior eye angle (slightly closer tothe angle in G. quatuordecimmaculata); (3) fore wing venation(Fig 1) distinct (obscure in G. quatuordecimmaculata, Fig 17); (4)male pygofer (Fig 5) with the posterior margin broadly rounded(narrowly rounded in G. quatuordecimmaculata, Fig 20); (5)aedeagus (Fig 7) strongly constricted apically and withthe pair of spiniform apical processes directed dorsally(constricted on basal half, distinctly concave ventrally,and with the apical processes directed dorsoanteriorlyin G. quatuordecimmaculata, Fig 22); and (6) femalesternite VII (Fig 9) without concavity on posterior mar-gin. Finally, it is important to note that the new spe-cies runs correctly to Geitogonalia in Young’s (1977)key to the New World genera of Cicadellini.

Acknowledgments Useful comments on the manuscript were provid-ed by Daniela M. Takiya and Rachel A. Carvalho (both from UFRJ). GMand RRC have fellowships from Conselho Nacional de DesenvolvimentoCientífico e Tecnológico (CNPq, processes number 301391/2011-4 and

303127/2010-4, respectively). This study was supported in part byFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)(grant number E-26/111.181/2011 to Nelson Ferreira-Jr—Depto deZoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,UFRJ).

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The sharpshooter genus Geitogonalia