Myopsalta majurae Popple 2017, n. sp.
Creators: name: Popple, Lindsay W.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadidae
Myopsalta
Myopsalta majurae

description: Myopsalta majurae n. sp.
(Figs 1I, 21A, 22A, 22B, 17, 23; Plate 9)
Types. Holotype: ♂ AUSTRALIA ACT, Mt Majura–Mt Ainslie, 11.xii.2010, LT2009371, L.W. Popple, 35°14'42''S 149°10'40''E, 676-0001, ANIC Database No. 20-014381 (ANIC); Paratypes: AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY: 1♂ Mt Majura–Mt Ainslie, 35°14'42''S 149°10'40''E, 11.xii.2010, L.W. Popple, LT2009371, 677-0002 (LWP); 1♂ Australian Capital Territory, Mt Majura–Mt Ainslie, 35°15'53''S 149°10'10''E, 2.xii.2016, L.W. Popple, M. Milner, 676-0003 (MSM).
Etymology. Named after Mt Majura in Canberra; this is an important location for the species because all known records have been obtained in the vicinity of Mt Majura and Mt Ainslie.
Description. Male. (Figs 1I, 21A, 22A, 22B; Plate 9).
Head: Postclypeus predominantly black, pale pinkish-brown along lateral margins and with a pale brown area medially on dorsal side, narrowing anteriorly; supra-antennal plates and genae black; mandibular plates black, brown, covered by silvery pubescence; vertex and frons black with a small pale brown diamond-shaped area extending narrowly along epicranial suture from near median ocellus to anterior margin of pronotal collar, covered in sparse silvery pubescence; ocelli pale red; compound eyes brown; anteclypeus black; rostrum dark brown, black apically, extending beyond posterior margins of mid coxae; antennae dark brown to black.
Thorax: Pronotum brown; central fascia prominent, yellow-brown, surrounded with black colouration, which broadens along anterior and posterior pronotal margins; with broad, irregular black patches near paramedian and lateral fissures, and narrow black areas along lateral margins; pronotal collar dark brown to black, with brown posterior margin; metanotum black; mesonotum, including submedian and lateral sigilla, black, with brown areas between the submedian and lateral sigilla, sometimes also on lateral margins of lateral sigilla, and pale brown on arms and lateral sides of cruciform elevation, extending on to posterior half of wing grooves; posterior third of mesonotum with dense fine and sparse long silver pubescence.
Wings: Fore wings hyaline; basal cells orange to pale orange-brown; pterostigmata dull reddish-brown; veins, including costal vein, brown to dark brown, darker distally. Hind wing plagas white at base, grading to dark greybrown along basal two thirds, this colour extending broadly along jugal folds and terminating before apices, hyaline over remainder; veins pale brown basally, brown medially, dark brown on distal third.
Legs: Fore coxae pale brown to dark brown, with longitudinal black areas on medial anterior and posterior sides, joints pinkish-red; mid and hind coxae black, with pale red joints, pale brown apically; meracantha spikes dark brown, becoming pale brown apically, or entirely pale brown, overlapping opercula; fore femora dark brown with pale brown longitudinal areas on outer anterior sides, pale brown at apices; mid and hind femora dark brown with pale brown apices; fore tibiae black; mid tibiae dark brown, each with a pale brown band above base; hind tibiae dark brown, each with two pale brown bands, one above base, other towards apex; fore and mid tarsi dark brown; hind tarsi brown; pretarsi brown with dark brown apical areas; claws dark brown.
Opercula (Fig. 1I): Broadly rounded; dark brown basally grading to brown or pale brown at crest; plates undulating, each with two ridges, basal ridges sharply defined, apical ridges gradual, medial areas between ridges depressed.
Timbals (Fig. 21A): Anterior rib 5 abbreviated; rib 4 also abbreviated, with a prominent isolated remnant extension ventrally; ribs 1 and 2 joined ventrally and fused dorsally to basal spur; anterior termination of basal spur fused with ribs 3–4, with rib 5 unattached; prominent intercalary short ribs in medial areas between ribs 1 and 2, 2 and 3, and 3 and 4 (three in total).
Abdomen: Tergite 1 black; tergite 2 wider along dorsal midline than tergites 3 to 7; tergites 2 to 7 black, all with dense short silver pubescence on dorso-lateral sides and with extensive long and short silver pubescence on lateral sides; tergite 8 black, covered in short silver pubescence; intersegmental membranes pale brown; epipleurites black, with sparse silver pubescence; sternite II black, sometimes with narrow pinkish-brown to orange-brown areas on posterior dorso-lateral margins; sternites III to VI black medially, with narrow pinkish-brown areas laterally, narrowing distally, being narrowest on sternite VI; sternite VII black with diffuse pinkish-brown areas at extreme posterio-lateral margins; sternite VIII black; anterior sternites visible in lateral view.
Genitalia (Figs 22A, B): Pygofer black; upper lobes in ventral view relatively linear, with terminals directed slightly inwards and tapering broadly; basal lobes in ventral and lateral views, bulbous; median lobe of uncus rounded, slightly protruded; claspers in ventral view conspicuous, diverging from point of downward deflection, with relatively broad apices; pseudoparameres projecting further (ventrally) than endotheca and ventral support; ventral support acute, projecting slightly beyond endotheca; endotheca fleshy.
Female: Unknown.
Measurements. N= 3♂. Ranges and means (in parentheses), mm; BL: ♂ 15.6–16.7 (16.20). FWL: ♂ 18.5– 20.6 (19.8). HW: ♂ 4.7–5.0 (4.87). PW: ♂ 4.9–5.2 (5.07). AW: ♂ 4.8–5.3 (5.07). FWL/W: ♂ 2.53–2.74 (2.63). Morphological distinguishing features. Males of Myopsalta majurae n. sp. can be distinguished from M. atrata, M. binotata, M. coolahensis, M. gordoni n. sp., M. lactea, M. libritor, M. waterhousei and M. xerograsidia n. sp. by the colour of the basal membranes of the fore wings, which is pale brown or pale orange rather than white to pale grey. They can be distinguished from M. melanobasis n. sp. and M. platyptera n. sp. by the appearance of the fore wing clavus, which is entirely hyaline and not opaque at the base. They can be separated from M.
albiventris n. sp. and M. wollomombii by the colouration of the sternites, which is predominantly dark brown (cf. almost entirely pale brown). They can be differentiated from M. umbra n. sp. by the colour of the costal veins, which is brown rather than reddish-brown. In addition, they can be distinguished from M. septa n. sp. and M. crucifera by the colouration of sternite VII, which is entirely dark brown to black (not bordered with pale brown on any margin). They can be distinguished from M. leona n. sp. and M. parvula n. sp. by having a head width> 4.4 mm and fore wing width>6.0 mm, and from M. chrysopedia n. sp. by having a fore wing length/width ratio of <2.9. They can be separated from the closely similar M. mackinlayi and M. riverina n. sp. by the colouration of the opercula, which is dark brown to black rather than predominantly pale brown. Finally, they can be separated from M bassiana n. sp. and M. longicauda n. sp. by the absence of contrasting pale brown colouration on the ventrolateral sides of sternite II (instead, this feature is mostly dark brown to black). Females are unknown.
Distribution, habitat and behaviour (Fig. 17). Myopsalta majurae is presently known only from the slopes of Mt Majura and Mt Ainslie in the Australian Capital Territory. The single known population occurs in grassy woodland and on the fringes of monoculture forests of Allocasuarina verticellata. Adults have been collected in early–mid December. Males sit on the stems of small trees and shrubs. They sing sporadically during warm conditions.
Calling song (Fig. 23). The calling song contains a set of repeated phrases of variable duration. Each phrase contains 4–10 (typically 4–7) long echemes, each 0.326– 0.411 s duration and separated by gaps of 0.041– 0.081 s duration (all statistics, n =3 recordings). Each phrase ends with a slightly shorter echeme (0.278– 0.306 s duration), short gap (0.020– 0.026 s duration), a macrosyllable (0.047– 0.064 s duration) and a longer gap (0.153– 0.172 s duration). It is anticipated that females respond during the gap following the macrosyllable at the end of each phrase, although there are presently no observations to support this prediction.
This species calls during the day and is not known to sing at dusk. The calling song maintains an even frequency distribution throughout, with a high amplitude plateau of 9.7–14.2 kHz and a dominant frequency of approximately 10.2 kHz.
description: Published as part of Popple, Lindsay W., 2017, A revision of the Myopsalta crucifera (Ashton) species group (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettini) with 14 new species from mainland Australia, pp. 1-98 in Zootaxa 4340 (1) on pages 56-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4340.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1037793