Bamboosella Sanna & Holzinger & Cavagna & Callot & Webb 2025, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Sanna, Francesco
name: Holzinger, Werner E.
name: Cavagna, Francesca
name: Callot, Henry
name: Webb, Michael D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Bamboosella

description: Bamboosella Sanna & Webb, gen. nov.
Type species: Bamboosella dimorpha Sanna, Holzinger & Callot, spec. nov.
TAXONOMY
Superfamily Membracoidea Rafinesque, 1815
Family Cicadellidae Latreille, 1825
Subfamily Deltocephalinae Fieber, 1869
Tribe Mukariini Distant, 1908
DIAGNOSIS
Dorso-ventrally flattened leafhoppers. Integument dorsally uniformly yellowish-brown, without stripes or spots (Fig. 1A–B, 6). Anterior margin of head with two transverse carinae; postclypeus tumid; ventral part of face flat and lying nearly horizontally; ocelli distant from eyes (Fig. 1C). Aedeagus fused with connective, slightly to strongly asymmetrical, with single shaft, with pair of apical or subapical processes. Metabasitarsomere with 1 seta + 5 patellae + 2 setae on apical transverse row (Fig. 1H, J).
DESCRIPTION
Adult: Body brownish yellow, flattened dorso-ventrally. Head from slightly narrower to slightly wider than pronotum. Ocelli on anterior margin of head. Vertex subtriangular, anteriorly rounded, shorter than width between eyes, with anterior and submarginal carinae between apex and ocelli (Fig. 1C). Face rounded, distinctively inflated from side; antennae arising from ~1/3 eye length from upper corner of eye in facial view, 2nd antennal segment not visible from above; lateral frontal sutures well developed (Fig. 1D). Pronotum with anterior margin roundly produced, posterior margin concave. Forewings elongate, longer than the abdomen, with four apical cells and three subapical cells, first subapical cell open, second closed and third closed and elongate; appendix well developed (Fig. 1E). Hindwing with four closed apical cells, veins R4+5 and M1+2 from slightly separated to stalked (Fig. 1F). Profemur with 2 dorsoapical setae, AM1 well developed, intercalary (IC) row with 6–10 setae, AV1 present and row AV with 4–7 long and thin setae. (Fig. 1G, I). Protibia with 4–5 macrosetae in row PD, one apical seta in row AD and with 12–14 macrosetae in row AV together with 2–3 apical setae. Metafemur apical setal formula 2+2+1. Hind tibia flattened and nearly straight, PD 19–24, PV 36–39, AV 11–13, and AD 9–11 with 1 to 4 small setae between successive macrosetae. Metabasitarsomere with 1 seta + 5 patellae + 2 setae on apical transverse row and 2 rows of 5–8 short stout setae on plantar surface (Fig. 1H, J).
Male genitalia: Pygofer with an internal process from ventral margin; with one to five macrosetae from ventral margin, adjacent to base of process (Fig. 2F–G, 3C, F, G, 4C, F, I). Subgenital plates with scattered fine setae of variable length along dorsal border and apex and 1–4 macrosetae on ventral tip of each plate (Fig. 2F, H, 3E). Anal tube elongate, strongly sclerotized dorsally, often with 1–2 long subapical setae laterally on ventral half of basal segment (Fig. 2F, 3C). Style relatively slender, preapical lobe prominent with 3–4 long setae, apophysis elongate, apex curved laterally, acute (Fig. 2E, 3A). Connective U-shaped, fused with aedeagus. Aedeagus from strongly to slightly asymmetrical, directed to right from ventral view (Fig. 2A, C, 3A, 4A, C, G).
Female genitalia: Sternite VII almost as long as wide, longer than sternite VI, posterior margin from convex to concave (Fig. 5A). Pygofer with numerous macrosetae distally. Ovipositor protruding slightly beyond pygofer apex (Fig. 5B). First valvulae with dorsal sculpturing obliquely strigate-concatenate reaching dorsal margin (Fig. 5C–D). Second valvulae widest at mid-length, very broad, fused basally along dorsal margin around 1/3 of its length; with numerous very fine dorsal teeth along distal 0.6 length of valvulae; blades slightly misaligned; dorsal hyaline area between fused part of valvulae and beginning of teeth (Fig. 5E–F).
BIOLOGY, HOST PLANTS AND DISTRIBUTION
Bamboosella gen. nov. is recorded from France, Italy, Switzerland and Slovenia. It is oligophagous on several species of the bamboo genus Phyllostachys (Bambusoideae), where specimens remain closely appressed to the upper surface of leaves.
As most species of Phyllostachys are native to central and southern China (Wu et al. 2006), this, or a neighbouring country, is the likely origin of the new taxa.
ETYMOLOGY
The generic name, which is feminine, is a combination of the English word “bamboos” with the Latin feminine suffix “-ella” (added to a noun to form a diminutive of that noun), referring to the common name of feeding plants of this genus.
REMARKS
Bamboosella gen. nov. can be easily distinguished among all described Mukariini due to the body uniformly brownish yellow without visible marking, the aedeagus with asymmetrical shaft which originates from the left side of the atrium, and the different setal formula of the apical transverse row of the metabasitarsomere, which in other Mukariini presents three platellae with one short stout seta on either side (Viraktamath & Webb 2019).
description: Published as part of Sanna, Francesco, Holzinger, Werner E., Cavagna, Francesca, Callot, Henry & Webb, Michael D., 2025, A new leafhopper genus and species on bamboo, described from Europe (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae, Mukariini), with remarkable seasonal dimorphism, pp. 323-338 in Zootaxa 5588 (2) on pages 325-326, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5588.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/14896534