Melanastera curtisetosa Serbina & Malenovský & Queiroz & Burckhardt 2025
Creators: name: Serbina, Liliya Š.
name: Malenovský, Igor
name: Queiroz, Dalva L.
name: Burckhardt, Daniel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Liviidae
Melanastera
Melanastera curtisetosa

description: 4 Melanastera curtisetosa sp. nov.
(Figs 3F, 8D, 14D, 21V –AA)
Type material. Holotype ♂: Brazil: RIO GRANDE DO SUL: Passo Fundo, S28.2288, W52.4061, 670 m, 25.x.2013 (A.L. Marsaro Jr.) (UFPR; dry).
Paratypes. Brazil: RIO GRANDE DO SUL: 4♀, Passo Fundo, Embrapa campus, S24.5621, W50.2581, 28.vi.2013, degraded vegetation (D.L. Queiroz) #520 (NHMB; dry; NMB-PSYLL0007806); 3 ♂, 4 ♀, same as holotype but (NHMB, MMBC, UFPR; dry, slide, 70% ethanol; NMB-PSYLL0003909, NMB-PSYLL0007838 [LSMelcur-68], NMB-PSYLL0007839 [LSMelcur-68], NMB-PSYLL0007840 [LSMelcur-68], NMB-PSYLL0007841 [LSMelcur- 68]).
Description. Adult. Coloration. Body pale yellow to pale orange. Antenna pale yellow; segments 3–8 with dark brown apices, segment 9 at least in apical half and segment 10 entirely dark brown. Forewing (Fig. 14D) veins and membrane pale yellow with pale brown dots sparsely scattered in apical two thirds of wing (sometimes indistinct); apices of veins Rs, M 1+2, M 3+4 and Cu 1a at wing margin pale brown, apex of vein Cu 1b brown. Legs pale yellow, metacoxa brown with pale yellow meracanthus; metafemur with pale brown spots. Abdomen pale yellow. Terminalia pale yellow to pale brown; female proctiger with brown apex.
Structure. Setae on thorax moderately long. Forewing (Fig. 14D) evenly, narrowly rounded apically; C+Sc distinctly curved in apical third; pterostigma relatively long and narrow, with subparallel margins, in the middle distinctly narrower than cell r 1; Rs almost straight along most of its length, hardly curved to fore margin apically; M longer than M 1+2 and M 3+4; Cu 1a weakly curved in apical quarter, ending distad of M fork; cell cu 1 long and narrow; surface spinules present in all cells, dense, leaving narrow spinule-free stripes along the veins, not forming distinct hexagons at least in apical part of the wing, spinules absent in basal part of cell c+sc. Costal setae of hindwing grouped (6 + 4–5). Metatibia bearing 7–8 grouped apical spurs, arranged as 3 + 4–5, anteriorly separated by 4–5 bristles.
Terminalia (Fig. 21V –AA). Male. Proctiger long, broad, posterior margin broadly convex; densely covered with moderately long setae in apical two thirds. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, irregularly ovoid; dorsal margin curved anteriorly and posteriorly, straight in the middle, posterior margin almost straight; beset with moderately long setae in posterior half. Paramere shorter than proctiger; in lateral view, lamellar, with mostly subparallel margins; anterior margin straight in basal four fifths, strongly bent in apical fifth, posterior margin weakly, irregularly curved; apex, in lateral view, narrowly rounded, directed upwards, in dorsal view, broadly rounded, directed slightly inwards, lacking a distinct sclerotised tooth; outer face with dense, moderately long setae in apical half; inner face with dense, moderately long setae medially and short setae apically; posterior margin with long setae. Proximal segment of aedeagus with apical part moderately subdivided. Distal segment of aedeagus almost straight with dorsal margin sinuate; apical dilation, in lateral view, narrowly elongate, evenly rounded apically; sclerotised end tube short and weakly curved.—Female terminalia cuneate, long; with dense setae. Dorsal margin of proctiger, in lateral view, distinctly sinuate distal to circumanal ring; apex upturned, pointed; in dorsal view, apex pointed; circumanal ring, in dorsal view, distinctly cruciform. Subgenital plate distinctly shorter than proctiger, covered with numerous short setae in apical half; in lateral view, abruptly narrowing in apical third, with pointed apex; in ventral view, apex truncate, incised medially.
Fifth instar immature. Unknown.
Host plant. Adults were collected on an unidentified species of Asteraceae, which is possibly a host.
Distribution. Brazil (RS).
Derivation of name. From the Latin adjectives curtus = shortened and setosus = coarsely hairy, referring to the short setae on the female subgenital plate and apex of the proctiger.
description: Published as part of Serbina, Liliya Š., Malenovský, Igor, Queiroz, Dalva L. & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2025, Jumping plant-lice of the tribe Paurocephalini (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Liviidae) in Brazil, pp. 1-164 in Zootaxa 5585 (1) on page 39, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5585.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15007669