Metaurus mohanensis Zheng & Bourgoin & Yang & Chen 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zheng, Yan-Li
name: Bourgoin, Thierry
name: Yang, Lin
name: Chen, Xiang-Sheng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Dictyopharidae
Metaurus
Metaurus mohanensis

description: Metaurus mohanensis Zheng & Chen sp. nov.
Type material.
Holotype • ♂, China: Yunnan, Xishuangbanna Mengla County, Mohan, 16 June 2019, Feng-E Li (GUGC, no. GUGC -20220811-Y 13). Paratypes • 2 ♂♂, same collection site as the holotype but 22 June 2019, Yalin Yao (GUGC).
Diagnosis.
The new species is similar to Metaurus ramusitis Song & Liang, but can be distinguished from the latter by the shape of the phallobase and segment X: dorsal apical lobes of the phallobase (Figs 11, 16) produced in a pair of long lobes, directed posteriorly in lateral view, and two lobes on it, base extends forward to form a leaf projection in dorsal view (not in M. ramusitis). Segment X in dorsal view is relatively narrow, with ratio of the maximum length to width near base about 2.3: 1 (Fig. 13); ventral margin is protruded ventrally into a large rounded process at base in lateral view and slightly concave, not incised medially (Figs 8, 12); in M. ramusitis: segment X is relatively broader in dorsal view, and with an irregular incision medially in lateral view.
Description.
Measurements (in mm). ♂, BL: 17.3– 17.1 mm; HL: 3.6–3.7 mm; HW: 1.7–1.8 mm; FWL: 12–12.1 mm.
Coloration. Body green. General colour greenish ochraceous; darker on apical part of cephalic process, on a longitudinal spot before eyes on genae, and on a small anterior spot on lower lateral carina behind eyes on pronotum. Rostrum blackish at extreme apex. Fore and hind wing membrane transparent, veins green, stigmal area green, anterior margin yellow. Legs green, apex of hind femora and base of hind tibiae black, tips of lateral spines on hind tibiae and tips of apical teeth on tarsomeres black.
Morphology. Head and thorax (Figs 1–5). Cephalic process in front of eyes strongly upturned (about 45 °), as long as distance from curved point to posterior margin of eyes in lateral view. Head shorter than pronotum and mesonotum combined, its ratio of length: width about 1: 0.45. Vertex relatively narrow, median longitudinal carina distinct only at the base, and lateral carina deeply concave and strongly tapered in front of the compound eyes. Frons elongate, with median carina complete and elevated, 2.5 times as long as wide, anterior portion distinctly narrowed and protruded anteriorly and upwardly in ventral and lateral views; lateral carinae ridged, frons distinctly expanded outwards below antennae. Postclypeus and anteclypeus strongly convex at middle, with distinct median carina. Rostrum long, extending up to abdominal sternite VI. Pronotum distinctly shorter than mesonotum medially, ratio length about 0.4: 1, narrow anteriorly, broad posteriorly. Mesonotum tricarinate, lateral carinae incurved anteriorly towards median carina.
Forewings (Figs 1, 2, 6) hyaline, much longer than abdomen, nearly three times as long as broad; anterior margin distinctly expanded into a narrow, sclerotized costal area; costal cell without transverse veins, Sc + R forked apicad of junction of claval veins; MP first branching in MP 1 + 2 and MP 3 + 4 veins near basal one-third, anterior to first CuA branching, MP 1 + 2 fork situated posterior to MP 3 + 4 fork and then branching into a dozen of terminals; numerous transverse veins among Sc + R, MP and CuA on apical two-thirds; 22 apical cells; Pcu and A 1 fused into a short Pcu + A 1 vein at apical third of clavus; pterostigmal area not differentiated, elongate, with nine cells.
Hindwings (Fig. 7) hyaline. CuA first branching into CuA 1 and CuA 2 near middle; MP and CuA 1 branching to several accessory veins on apical two-thirds, with several transverse veins; 14 apical cells.
Legs narrow and long, fore femora flattened and dilated, with a distinct spine near apex, hind tibiae with 7 lateral spines and 7 apical teeth, hind tarsomeres I with 10 and tarsomeres II with 11 apical teeth. Metatibiotarsal formula: 7-7 / 10: 11
Male genitalia. Pygofer large and broad, ventrally distinctly longer than dorsally (about 5: 1); posterior margin with two obtuse processes near middle in lateral view (Figs 8, 12), upper process slightly smaller than lower one. Segment X (anal tube) large and broad in dorsal view, with ratio of the maximum length to width near base about 2.3: 1 (Figs 8, 12, 13); ventral margins in basal third protruded ventrally into a large triangular process in lateral view. Gonostyli relatively small in lateral view, posterior margin with directed tooth-like dorsal process medially and a directed tooth-like ventral process submedially on outer upper edge; apical part elongate and rounded (Figs 8, 12, 14); dorsal process short, acute apically. Aedeagus (Figs 9 – 13) large and robust, dorsal and lateral parts and most of ventral part of phallobase sclerotized and pigmented, the remainder membranous; with 3 pairs of apical membranous lobes; dorsal apical lobes (Figs 15, 16) long, directed posteriorly in lateral view, each bearing two smaller projections (Figs 15 c, 16 c) on it, base extending forward to form a leaf-like projection (Figs 15 a, 16 a); ventral lobes (Figs 10, 15, 17) large and slender, with two pairs of projections (Figs 10, 15, 17): the inner ones very slender (Figs 15 f, 17 f), directed posteriorly, with additional two smaller membranous projections on their median part (Fig. 17 h), and one large basal lobe (Figs 15 d, 17 d); the outer ones slender and elongate, directed posteriorly (Fig. 17 e), with two small projections medially in ventral view (Figs 15 g, 17 g).
Etymology.
The species name “ mohanensis ” refers to the collecting site in the town of Mohan, in the Yunnan Province in southwestern China. Adjective.
Mitochondrial genome of the new species
The complete mitogenome of Metaurus mohanensis Zheng & Chen, sp. nov. is 15,469 bp in length and consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and one large non-coding region (D-loop: [A + T] - rich region) (Fig. 18). The D-loop part is 1233 bp, taking place between 12 S rRNA and trnI. The overall base composition is A: 48 %, T: 28.8 %, C: 15 %, and G: 8.2 %. AT skew ((A-T) / (A + T)) and GC skew ((G-C) / (G + C)) are 0.25 and - 0.293, respectively. All 13 PCGs started with ATN, GTG (nad 1, nad 5) and ended with TAN or a single T (nad 1, nad 4, atp 6 and nad 5) residue. The length of 22 tRNA ranged from 57 bp (trnV) to 70 bp (trnK). Genes of 16 S rRNA and 12 S rRNA are 1, 201 bp and 732 bp, respectively.
The genomic data from this study are openly available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, accession number: PP 863288. Associated BioProject, SRA, and BioSample accession numbers are PRJNA 1114399, SUB 14549433 and SAMN 41484364 respectively (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/ PRJNA 1114399).
description: Published as part of Zheng, Yan-Li, Bourgoin, Thierry, Yang, Lin & Chen, Xiang-Sheng, 2024, A new species of Metaurus Stål, 1866 (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Dictyopharidae), supplemented with mitogenome data from China, pp. 53-64 in ZooKeys 1215 on pages 53-64, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1215.128976