Hishimonus viraktamathi Knight
Creators: name: Viraktamath, C. A.
name: Anantha Murthy, H. V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Hishimonus
Hishimonus viraktamathi

description: Hishimonus viraktamathi Knight
Figs 31–33, 205–216.
Hishimonus viraktamathi Knight 1973: 153 –156, Figs 1–8. HOLOTYPE ♂, INDIA [BMNH, examined].
Head creamy white with two pale orange to red patches on crown, one on each side of midline. Pronotum yellow with four orange to red patches on disc, area between the patches pale yellow or whitish. Scutum and scutellum yellow. Forewings hyaline mottled with light and dark brown, veins reddish brown, ventral surface of thorax pale stramineous, sometimes marked with dark brown. Legs pale stramineous, abdomen dark brown with lateral edges yellow.
Male genitalia. Pygofer in lateral view longer than its height, posterior margin broadly rounded, macrosetae confined to posterior half. Valve triangular with posterior angle more broadly rounded, 1.7 times as broad at base as long medially. Subgenital plates elongate triangular, without membranous fingerlike process at apex, setae uniseriate, marginal in addition to hairlike short setae. Style about 3.5 times as long as wide at base, subapical lobe well developed, apophysis slightly bifid and ventrally directed. Connective Y-shaped with stem approximately 0.66 times as long as total length. Aedeagus with shafts short, cylindrical, dorsally curved, surface with numerous minute denticles, gonopores apical, pair of long narrow closely opposed processes, approximately twice length of shafts arising between bases of shafts, extending posteriorly and curving slightly dorsally, with row of small, teeth along distal half of lateral surface.
Female genitalia. Seventh sternite 1.7 times as wide at base as medially long, posterior margin convex with median rounded lobe notched in middle. Gonocaxa I with denticles over lateral margins, base of first pair of valvulae abruptly narrowed caudally. Teeth on second pair of valvulae shallow of uniform size, without secondary dentition, ventroapical margin entire.
Measurements. Male 3.87 (3.70–4.40) mm long, 1.21 (1.1.10 –1.35) mm wide across eyes. Female 4.19 (4.00– 4.30) mm long and 1.34 (1.28–1.35) mm wide across eyes.
Material examined. INDIA: Gujarat: 1 ♂, 1♀, Ahwa, Dangs, 17.i.1981, C.A. Viraktamath; 2 ♀, Mt Girinar, 30.i.1981, C.A.Viraktamath; Karnataka: 2♀, Anekal, 10.viii.1975, C.A. Viraktamath and K.D. Gorpade; 6 ♂, Bangalore, 22.ix.1974; 1♂, Bannerghatta (near Bangalore), 10.viii.1975; 1♂, 2♀, Bangalore 12.ix.1976; 2♂, 20 Km SW of Channapatna, 15.vii.1977; 1♂, 1♀, Dharwad, x.1969; 1♂, 22.x.1969; 1♂, vii.1970; 3♂, 12♀, 12.vii. 1970; 1♂, Dodballapur, 18.vi. 1977; 1♀, Hunsur, 18.i.1978, all collected by C. A. Viraktamath on Terminalia arjuna; 1 ♂, Yellapur, 15.xi.1977, C.A.Virktamath; Kerala: 3♀, Munnar, 23.iii.1977, C.A. Viraktamath; Maharashtra: 1♂, Khandala, 6.xi.1991, C.A.Viraktamath; Uttar Pradesh: 4♂, 4♀, Varanasi, 2.vii.2003, C.A. Viraktamth (UASB).
Remarks. H. viraktamathi closely resembles H. indicus. The closely opposed, long narrow basal processes of the aedeagus with a row of small widely spaced teeth along the distal half of the lateral surface distinguish H. viraktamathi from the latter.
This species breeds on Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.) Wight & Arn. (Combretaceae) during monsoon season (July to September). The nymphs and adults are gregarious and are attended by the ant, Campnotus compressus (Fabricius).
description: Published as part of Viraktamath, C. A. & Anantha Murthy, H. V., 2014, Review of the genera Hishimonus Ishihara and Litura Knight (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from the Indian subcontinent with description of new species, pp. 101-138 in Zootaxa 3785 (2) on page 116, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3785.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/225636