Jembra taiwana Shih, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Shih, Hsien-Tzung
name: Liang, Ai-Ping
name: Yang, Jeng-Tze
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aphrophoridae
Jembra
Jembra taiwana

description: Jembra taiwana Shih sp. nov.
(Figs. 4, 5)
Coloration: General color brown. Pronotum with transverse blackish band posteriorly (Fig. 4 C). Tegmen (Fig. 4 D) dark brown with large and irregular blackish patches, two light brown patches on costal area, veins marked with blackish-fuscous and testaceous.
Structure: Head width: body width: body length= 1.0: 1.5: 3.3. Head ventral view rhombus shaped, about 1.1 times as wide as long; head dorsal view triangular, about 4.4 times as wide as long. Head subequal to pronotum at level of anterior margin, about 1.1:1.0. Frons with 13 transverse ridges at each side of ventral view. Expanded flagellar base with 3 plate-shaped basiconic sensillae on ventrolateral side. Rostrum extended to the end of hind femora. Pronotum width at widest part than median length about 1.5: 1.0. Tegmen about 2.6 times as long as wide, AM (length of anal margin): PM (length of posterior margin): LT (length of tegmen) = 1.0: 1.9: 2.8. Wing with 4 apical cells (Fig. 4 E). Hind tibia with two lateral spines, distal one about 1.7 times as long as basal one; apical spines arranged into 2 rows, upper row composed of 8 spines, lower one composed of 8 spines.
Male Genitalia: Pygofer lateral view subquadrate, about 1.3 times wider than long; basal margin of pygofer straight downward and protruding basally at ventral fourth, then curved ventrally (Fig. 5 I); pygofer ventral view pentagon like (Fig. 5 J); dorsal process of pygofer lateral view small and semicircular (Fig. 5 I); ventral process of pygofer lateral view subquadrate, apex forked (Fig. 5 I); ventral processes of pygofer ventral view bilobed, each lobe with two teeth at tip and directed mesad (Fig. 5 J). Abdominal segment X cylindrical, longer than abdominal tergite of segment XI (XIt) in length, about 1.9 times. Aedeagus short, apex obviously curved inward in the middle (Fig. 5 M); in caudal view triangular (Fig. 5 N) and in dorsal view T-shaped. Connective in ventral view triangular (Fig. 5 L). Genital styles slender and elongate, nearly Y-shaped (Figs. 5 O–P).
Measurements: Body length (from apex of vertex to tip of tegmen): 3, 11.26 mm; Body width: 3, 5.01 mm.
HOLOTYPE: Male, TAIWAN, Licha Forest Rd., Taitung, VII. 2003, C. H. Chang; Holotype depository: TARI.
Etymology: Named for its occurrence in Taiwan.
Distribution: Taiwan.
Host plants: Lagerstroemia subcostata Koehne (Lythraceae).
Remarks: This species can be distinguished easily from J. inouyei (Matsumura) by its pronotum with a transverse blackish band at the posterior margin; ventral process of pygofer in ventral view bilobed, with each lobe bearing two teeth at tip and directed mesad (Fig. 5 J). In this study, we also observed the external morphology for the fourth and fifth instar nymphs of the species J. taiwana sp. nov. as follows.
Description of nymphs. The following combinations of characteristics are distinctive for fourth and fifth instar nymphs of Jembra.
Fourth instar nymph (Figs. 5 A–B).
Coloration: Body in dorsal view generally grayish white with irregular brownish or blackish brown markings, bands, and patches; ventral view blackish brown. Frons in ventral view blackish brown with yellowish brown carinae, and dorsal view brown marginally. Vertex with longitudinally brownish band between eye and ocellus. Eyes grayish white and ocelli pale red. Antennal ledges white, antennae brown. Gena and lorum white with brown patches. Rostrum yellowish brown. Pronotum nearly all brown except lateral margins. Legs yellowish brown in coxae and trochanters, and blackish brown in femora. Visible segment IX of abdomen blackish brown.
Structure: Body length 11.54 mm, width (includes wing pads) 4.76 mm. Head width: body width: body length= 1.0: 1.3: 2.7. Head in ventral view rhombus shaped, about 1.4 times as wide as long. Vertex nearly rectangular, about 4.8 times as wide as long. Frons distinctly protrudent, ventral view flat longitudinally and with 13 indistinct transverse carinae at each side; without distinct boundary between dorsal frons and vertex. Each ocellus with fine punctures from anterior to lateral margins. Ocelli very close to each other, about 1.7 times as distant from eyes as from each other. Lorum curved inward from base to middle. Antenna without socket at base, 9 segments and flagellate. Rostrum long, extended to the end of hind coxae. Pronotum near hexagonal, with a distinctly median carina, width at widest part than median length about 1.9: 1.0. Wing pads triangular, each pad extended to the lateral middle of the abdominal tergite II. Coxal meracanthus of midleg undeveloped. Each tibia with apical spines arranged in 2 rows. Hind tibia without lateral spines. Abdomen 9- segmented. Abdominal tergite I very short. Genital organ visible.
Fifth instar nymph (Figs. 4 A–B, 5C–H)
The coloration (Figs. 4 A–B) and structure of the fifth instar nymph is very similar to the fourth instar nymph, but this instar may be distinguished by the following combinations of characteristics: (1) Body length 11.70–12.43 mm, width (includes wing pads) 4.88–5.37 mm.; (2) Rostrum extended to the middle or end of hind trochanters; (3) Each lateral margin of pronotum with obvious angle at posterior margin (Fig. 5 C); (4) Each wing pad extended to the lateral 1/3–1/2 of the abdominal tergite III (Fig. 5 E).
Specimen examined: TAIWAN, 1 female (fourth instar nymph), 1 female and 1 male (fifth instar nymph), Licha Forest Rd., Taitung, VII. 2003, C. H. Chang (TARI).
Host plants: Same as holotype.
Bionomics: Based on field observations in Taiwan by the first author, this species is not common. Nymphs have rather long and visible rostrums, and construct their frothy masses on the trunk or branches of host plants. In general, each frothy mass only covers one nymph. The mass size is over 30 mm in length for fifth instar nymphs; and the viscosity of their frothy mass is stronger than in other aphrophorid nymphs (e.g. Poophilus costalis, Mesoptyelus arisana, Aphrophora taiwana, and others), but it is obviously weaker than that of cercopid nymphs (e.g. Cosmoscarta and Eoscarta).
description: Published as part of Shih, Hsien-Tzung, Liang, Ai-Ping & Yang, Jeng-Tze, 2009, The genus Jembra Metcalf and Horton from Taiwan with descriptions of two new species and the nymph of J. taiwana sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Aphrophoridae), pp. 29-40 in Zootaxa 1979 on pages 36-39, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.185235