Russelliana similis Burckhardt 1987
Creators: name: Serbina, Liliya
name: Burckhardt, Daniel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Psyllidae
Russelliana
Russelliana similis

description: Russelliana similis Burckhardt, 1987
(Figs 10 G, 15B, 20A, 25A, 29A, 33H)
Russelliana similis Burckhardt, 1987: 380.
Material examined. Type material. Holotype ♂: Bolivia: Department Chuquisaca, Province Nor Cinti, Lecori, S Potosi, 3200 m, 26–27.xii.1984 (L. E. Peña) (MHNG, dry). Paratypes: Bolivia: 11 ♂, 5 ♀, same as holotype (L. E. Peña) (MHNG, dry, on slide); 12 ♂, 4 ♀, same but Padcoya to Camargo, 2800–3200 m, 26–28.xii.1984 (L. E. Peña) (BMNH, MHNG, NHMB, dry, on slide).
Description. Coloration. Head including genal processes pale yellow; clypeus brown. Eyes yellow to brown, ocelli orange. Antenna yellow to brownish, segments 3–8 with brown apices, segments 9–10 entirely dark brown. Pronotum of the same colour as vertex, with brown spots on either side and yellow to orange spot in the middle; mesopraescutum pale yellow, with two pale to dark brown patches along the fore margin and two yellow to orange transverse stripes posteriorly; mesoscutum pale yellow to orange, with four broad brown and, in the middle, one narrow yellow to orange longitudinal stripes; mesoscutellum pale yellow along the margin, yellow to brown in the middle. Metanotum yellow to dark brown. Forewing with brown veins and colourless membrane, sometimes fumose in the middle of cells in apical half; sometimes with distinct brown patch along vein Cu1b. Legs pale to dirty yellow, with slightly darker femora and distal tarsal segments, meracanthus of metacoxa yellow. Abdomen and terminalia yellow to dark brown. Female proctiger dark in apical third, subgenital plate with dark apex. Females often slightly lighter with ventrally lighter abdomen.
Structure. Head, in profile, moderately to strongly inclined from longitudinal body axis (45–90°). Vertex subtrapezoidal with indented foveae, anteriorly produced into transverse tubercle on either side of mid-line, with raised hind margin around lateral ocelli, covered with microscopical setae; genal processes conical, slender, subacute apically, shorter than vertex, covered with moderately long setae. Pronotum with two lateral tubercles on either side, one more pronounced than the other one. Forewing oblong-oval, broadly, unevenly rounded apically; vein C+Sc weakly curved, pterostigma long, vein Rs almost straight apically; vein M slightly shorter than either of veins M1+2 and M3+4; surface spinules absent; radular spinules covering triangular areas along the margin of cells r2, m1, m2 and cu1. Metatibia with 7–9 apical spurs.
Terminalia. Male. Proctiger tubular; relatively densely covered with moderately long setae. Subgenital plate short, subglobular; with relatively densely spaced moderately long setae. Paramere irregularly subtrapezoidal; with short apico-anterior process on very short pedicel, small median hump with apically sclerotised tooth, and apicoposterior lobe slightly bulged posteriorly; lobe slightly longer than process; outer face sparsely covered with moderately long setae mostly in posterior half, inner face densely covered with long setae. Distal segment of aedeagus moderately elongate, weakly expanding towards apex; with long anterior process, one apical and one apico-posterior tubercles, the latter being curved forward; lateral lobes long, strongly dilated towards apex which is concave.—Female. Proctiger cuneate, pointed apically; dorsal margin, in profile, sinuous, with subapical indentation; densely covered with moderately long setae. Subgenital plate cuneate, with short apical process; sparsely covered with moderately long setae, dorsal margin with a row of bristles.
Host-plant. Unknown.
Distribution. Reported from Bolivia (Chuquisaca) (Burckhardt 1987).
Comments. Russelliana similis resembles R. chorizanthis, disparilis, nigra, rutila and solanicola; see comments under R. chorizanthis. R. similis differs from R. chorizanthis, nigra, rutila and solanicola in the absence of surface spinules in the apical part of the forewing membrane, from R. disparilis and nigra in a small median hump of the paramere, and from R. nigra and rutila in a colourless forewing membrane. It differs from R. chorizanthis in shorter female terminalia, and from R. disparilis in a smaller apico-posterior lobe of the paramere and an apically subacute anterior process of the distal segment of the aedeagus.
description: Published as part of Serbina, Liliya & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2017, Systematics, biogeography and host-plant relationships of the Neotropical jumping plant-louse genus Russelliana (Hemiptera: Psylloidea), pp. 1-114 in Zootaxa 4266 (1) on pages 51-52, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.575325