Heremusina Ewart 2018, n. gen.
Creators: name: Ewart, A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadidae
Heremusina

description: Genus HEREMUSINA n. gen.
Figs. 2A – 7A, 2B – 7B, 8, 12–17, 30; Pl. 1, 2.
Etymology: Derived from Latin, a feminine construct of the masculine Heremus, referring to wilderness/desert/ wasteland, which broadly describe the environments of the two new species described.
Distribution (Fig. 8): Northern Territory in the regions around Alice Springs, extending westwards to Hermannsburg, and northern Queensland in the Cloncurry region, north and south of Cloncurry township.
Diagnosis: Head: Outer margins of eyes approximately as wide as mesonotum; supra-antennal plate meeting eye; postclypeus outline rounded across ventral midline; in lateral profile gently rounded between 'top' and 'sides'. Thorax: Pronotum in dorsal view parallel-sided; pronotal collar width at dorsal midline much less than diameter of eyes; paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites, no mid lateral tooth; cruciform elevation wider than long; epimeral lobe not reaching operculum; metanotum clearly visible at dorsal midline. Fore wings hyaline, with 8 apical cells; subapical cells absent; ulnar cell 3 angled to radial cell; basal cell clearly longer than narrow; costal vein higher than R+Sc; costa nearly parallel-sided to node, very slight widening at node; costa almost straight with only minimal curvature; pterostigma with pale brown infuscation; vein CuA with gentle curvature, with the cubital cell larger than medial cell; veins M and CuA meeting basal cell with their stems fused as one; vein RA1 not completely aligned with Sc for its full length, slightly diverging subapically; vein CuA1 divided by cross-vein mcu, the two segments of similar length; veins CuP and 1A fused for most of their length; distance between cross veins r and r-m approximately equal to distance between r-m and m; apical cells 3 to 6 more or less equal to lengths of ulnar cells, some slightly shorter, some slightly longer; radial cell shorter than distance from its apex to wing tip; wing outer margin clearly developed for its total length. Hind wings with 3 to 4 apical cells, mostly 4; no infuscation on ambient vein; width of 1 st cubital cell at distal end more than twice that of 2nd cubital cell; anal lobe narrow with vein 3A curved, separated from wing margin for most of its length. Male opercula: Relatively broad and bulbous in ventral view, mostly reaching margin of timbal cavity, excepting between lateral margin and crest; distal margin very broadly rounded; margins raised above level of tympanal cavity; basal plate strongly domed and relatively large; opercula not reaching across abdomen. Male abdomen generally bulbous, most strongly developed around tergites 2 to 4 and sternites II to IV, clearly wider than thorax; tergites in cross-section somewhat tent-like, dorsally straight, curved ventrally; epipleurites reflexed ventrally from junction with tergites; tergite 1 narrowed along dorsal midline; tergite 2 slightly wider than tergite 3 along dorsal midline; sternites in cross-section convex, relatively swollen so that in lateral view are mostly at least partially visible. Timbals with 3 continuous long ribs with long ribs 1 to 3 unbroken, relatively similar in length, each unfused ventrally, and spanning the full height of timbal; long ribs 1 to 3 fused dorsally to basal spur; rib 4 very thin medially, and not always clearly seen to be continuous across timbal, ventrally and dorsally unfused; rib 5 (most posterior) short; 3 to 4 intercalary ribs, these very thin and not easily seen; basal dome bulbous, narrow, somewhat lens-like; the outer anterior area to basal dome broad and gently undulating; anterior area of timbal dominantly occupied by ribs; timbals not extended below wing bases; timbal covers absent.
Male genitalia. Pygofer in ventral view ovoid in shape, with upper pygofer lobes widest points, the shape generally tapered from upper pygofer lobes to base; pygofer with distal shoulders developed; upper lobes moderately well developed, narrow and gently curved in ventral view, set well removed from dorsal beak; gently rounded in lateral view; basal lobes undivided, well developed, partially rounded in lateral view, abutted against pygofer margin; dorsal beak elongated as a pointed apex, forms part of chitinised pygofer. Uncus relatively short, somewhat flattened, median lobe gently curved in ventral view, roughly tongue-shaped. Claspers well developed, restraining aedeagus; prominent in lateral and ventral views, terminal claw with minimal cavity developed ventrally, terminations widely separated; gently rounded inward-facing swelling present on inner margins, apices diverging, in ventral view the widest dimension of claspers. Aedeagus with basal plate in lateral view undulated, depressed on dorsal midline, in dorsal view short and broad, apically broadened with 'ears', much broader than long; basal part of basal plate directed forwards away from thecal shaft, ventral rib fused with basal plate, small functional 'hinge' compressed between theca and basal plate; thecal shaft almost straight and parallel-sided, relatively thickly developed; pseudoparameres present, developed sub-apically, lateral of theca, to which they have fused for at least part of their length, in dorsal view their apices widely separated, diverging throughout their length, in lateral view directed upwards beyond thecal shaft; endotheca not visible; ventral support absent, thecal apex chitinised, thecal subapical cerci, flabellum and conjunctival claws each absent; vesical opening apical on theca.
Distinguishing characters between Mugadina and Heremusina n. gen. The above listing of the generic characters of Heremusina n. gen. extensively follows those defined by Moulds (2012) for Mugadina, thereby emphasising the closeness of many of these characters to those of Mugadina s.s. Although the lateral abdomen shapes of Mugadina and Heremusina n. gen. are somewhat similar (Figs. 1A, B and 2A, B), significant differences are seen in the general shapes of the genitalia (cf. Figs. 1C–F, and Figs. 6A–B and 7A–B), the pygofer outlines being more elongated in lateral and ventral views in Heremusina n. gen. The dorsal beaks are more elongated and gently curved in Herumusina n. gen.; the claspers exhibit sharply diverging distal terminations in Mugadina, contrasting with Heremusina; marked differences in opercula outline shapes are evident (Figs. 1I, J compared to Figs. 3A, B), noting the broader and more blunted and rounded terminations (between the medial and distal margins) of the Heremusina n. gen. opercula; the intercalary timbal ribs of Heremusina n. gen. are unusually thin, and the ventral terminations of long ribs 1 to 4 are clearly separated in Heremusina n. gen. as compared to Mugadina (Figs. 1G, H compared to Figs. 4A, B); the 4 hind wing apical cells in Heremusina n. gen. compared to the 4 to 5 in Mugadina. As shown below, the calling songs have markedly differing structures.
description: Published as part of Ewart, A., 2018, Two new genera and five new species of Mugadina - like small grass cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettini) from Central and Eastern Australia: comparative morphology, songs, behaviour and distributions, pp. 1-56 in Zootaxa 4413 (1) on pages 4-15, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4413.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1221888