Pravistylus varicudiscus Stiller 2010, sp. n.
Creators: name: Stiller, M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Pravistylus
Pravistylus varicudiscus

description: Pravistylus varicudiscus sp. n.   
(Figs. 1 aj; 2 a; 3 ag; 4 ae; 5 al; 6 ae; 7 cf; 8 bm & bn)  
 Diagnosis. Plate extremely long, with apex right-angled dorsally, apex of plate reaching anal tube, apex narrow tubular (Fig. 2 a). Pygofer rectangular, pygofer lobe reduced (Fig. 1 aj). Female sternite 7 longitudinally rectangular, with short triangular ligula (Fig. 7 cf).   
 Etymology. Latin, varicus, straddling, discus¸ disc, i.e. subgenital plate; for the nature of the plate that straddles the pygofer and with its apex reaching the anal tube.   
 Male and female. Ochraceous, male with variable narrow fuscous marking on dorsally on pygofer. Female ochraceous, unmarked. Both sexes sometimes with more distinct fuscous marking on vertex and inner anteapical cell of tegmina (Figs 8 bm & bn).   
 Male. Dimensions. (n = 25) Length: to tegmina 2.3–2.4 mm; to abdomen 2.6–2.9 mm; vertex medially 0.4–0.5 mm; vertex next to eye 0.3 mm; pronotum medially 0.3 mm. Width: head 0.9 mm; pronotum 0.8 mm. Ocellar diameter 28.0 µm; ocellocular distance 37.0–45.9 µm.   
 Genital capsule. Pygofer rectangular (Fig. 1 aj). Pygofer lobe reduced, subapical, broadly merged with pygofer. Plate elongate, more so than in any other species of Pravistylus; basal two thirds acutely triangular, basal lateral margin slightly sinuous, sparsely set with fine, short setae; plate 2.4–2.7 times as long as width across base (excluding length of right-angled apex); apex narrow, tubular, sclerotized, right-angled dorsally, apex in repose reaching as far as anal tube; 6–7 uniseriate marginal medial macrosetae (Fig. 2 a). Aedeagus with dorsal apodeme narrow; shaft, ventral view, narrow, parallel-sided; lateral view, wide at base, basal ⅔ uniformly curved dorsad, apical ⅓ deflected somewhat ventrad; gonopore subapical, dorsolaterad (Figs 3 ag, 4 ae). Style distal part widely separated from basal medial arm; apophysis acutely triangular, about 6 teeth ventrally (Fig. 5 al). Connective elongate, stem triangular, about twice as wide as width across arms (Fig. 6 ae).   
 Female. Dimensions. (n = 13) Length: to tegmina 2.3–2.5 mm; to abdomen 3.1–3.3 mm; vertex medially 0.5 mm; vertex next to eye 0.3–0.4 mm; pronotum medially 0.3 mm. Width: head 0.9–1.0 mm; pronotum 0.8–0.9 mm. Ocellar diameter 28.0 µm; ocellocular distance 36.5–48.6 µm.   
 Genitalia. Sternite 7 longitudinally rectangular, short triangular ligula apically. Greatest medial length 1.2–1.3 times longer the greatest width (Fig. 7 cf).   
 Material examined. Holotype male. Swaziland. Malolotja Nature Reserve, near environmental education center, 26º9ʹ15.12ʺS, 31º6ʹ2.64ʺE, 1564 m, 8.xii.2009, M. Stiller, DVac moribund grass. Paratypes. 20♂, 10♀, Ibid., same data as holotype (BMNH, INHS, SANC).   
 Remarks. Pravistylus varicudiscus is characterized by the very long plate with the apical third that is right-angled dorsally. The plate of this species reaches the apex of the pygofer lobe and bears macrosetae (Fig. 1 aj). Another species with a similar configuration is P. digitidiscus (Fig. 2 c), but with the plate distinctly shorter, usually without macrosetae, only a short section of the apex is curved or bent dorsally, or sometimes it is right-angled (Fig. 1 h). In undissected specimens of P. digitidiscus the apex of the plate is inserted ventrally between margins of the pygofer lobe. The female sternite 7 of P. varicudiscus is characteristically longitudinally rectangular, with a short triangular ligula (Fig. 7 cf), whereas in all other species of Pravistylus the sternite is usually transversely rectangular with a long ligula, or sometimes square. There is a striking similarity in the plate of P. varicudiscus and a new species of Vilargus, although the aedeagus and sternite 7 of the female of these two species differs markedly.
description: Published as part of Stiller, M., 2010, Revision of the Southern African leafhopper genus Pravistylus (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae) 2468, pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 2468 (1) on page 49, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2468.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10094177