Petalocephala chlorocephala
Creators: name: VIRAKTAMATH, C. A.
name: WEBB, M. D.
name: YESHWANTH, H. M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Petalocephala
Petalocephala chlorocephala

description: Petalocephala chlorocephala (Walker)
Figs 3A–H, 17F–H, 26A–I.
Ledra chlorocephalus Walker 1851: 825.
Petalocephala chlorocephala (Walker): Stål 1862: 494.
Ledropsis fuscipennis Melichar 1903: 144, pl IV fig. 15. Synonymized by Distant 1908: 166.
Petalocephala hornei Distant 1908:166. Syn. nov.
Diagnosis. Male. Crown with prominent median carina; lateral margins slightly divergent for a very short distance then convergent with angularly rounded apex. Externally resembling P. viridula Kuoh but differs in lacking marginal reddish-brown marking on crown and pronotum and being much longer. Pygofer with posterodorsal angle acutely produced, with a ventral short process with distal dorsal and ventral angles prolonged. Aedeagus similar to that of P. fuscomarginata, but with shaft strongly arcuate in basal 0.66, with one pair of short lateral processes before subapical expansion and with pair of apical spine-like processes.
Description. Distant (1908) adequately redescribed the external features of this species. Additional features are as follows. Crown lateral margins slightly diverging for a short distance then convergent, apex angularly rounded; median carina prominent; about 0.72× as long medially as interocular distance, about as long as median length of pronotum. Pronotum with lateral margins slightly divergent posteriorly with posterior half slightly convex. Mesonotum slightly shorter than median length of pronotum.
Male genitalia. Pygofer triangular with dorsal margin straight, about 2× as long as height in lateral view, narrowed posteriorly with acute posterodorsal angle, ventral margin notched in distal 0.33 distance where ventral process arises, ventral process short, constricted slightly distad of midlength, with dorsal and ventral short projections, apex truncate. Subgenital plate slightly longer than pygofer (1.1× longer), about 4.5× as long as wide. Style with short anterior apodeme, body slightly broad but as long as apophysis, apophysis almost straight, apically ventrally curved, apex slightly flared. Aedeagus with dorsal apodeme well-developed but short (about 0.25x aedeagal shaft), distally deeply bilobed; shaft elongate, of uniform width and strongly arcuate in basal 0.66, in lateral view, then widened but again narrowed towards apex, with short, prong-like lateral processes near base of subapical expansion on dorsal margin, apex of shaft bilobed with a pair of short horn-like processes extending beyond shaft apex, gonopore subapical.
Material examined. INDIA: HOLOTYPE ♂ (Ledra clorocephalus), “N. India, [18]48 134 on reverse (BMNH register entry for 1848 134: Almorah Mr Warwick)” “Type”, “34. Ledra chlorocephalus ” “NHMUK 01592225” (BMNH). SYNTYPE ♂ (Petalocephala honei), “N.W. India, [18]84.38 (BMNH register entry for 1884 38: “ Chiefly N.W. Provinces of India…Collected by the late C. Horne ”, “ Petalocephala hornei Dist. Type ”, “ Type ”, “ Syntype ”, “NHMUK 010592229” (BMNH). Other material. INDIA: 1♂, West Bengal: Algarha nr Kalimpong, 1788m, 7.vi.2005, C.A. Viraktamath (UASB).
Remarks. Walker (1851) described P. chlorocephala based on a single specimen (holotype) with data: “a. North India. From Warwick’s collection”. Distant (1908) redescribed the external features of this species and recorded it from Sri Lanka (Pundaluoya). Melichar (1903) described the junior synonym Ledropsis fuscipennis from an unspecified number of specimens (syntypic) from Sri Lanka “Colombo Neeldandahecna” from his collection. Distant (1908) described P. hornei based on unspecified number of specimens (syntypic) with the following data: “North-West India (C. Horne, Brit Mus.)” and differentiated it from P. latifrons Walker by the “more conically rounded vertex, the spotted scutellum &c”. Here P. hornei is considered a junior synonym of P. chlorocephala based on the characters of male genitalia. Among the three males examined, the apical pair of spine-like processes vary in their length, being much longer in the specimen from Kalimpong (West Bengal) and shortest in the type of P. chlorocephala.
description: Published as part of VIRAKTAMATH, C. A., WEBB, M. D. & YESHWANTH, H. M., 2025, Leafhopper subfamily Ledrinae of the Indian subcontinent: 2. Genera Digitata Wang, Li & Dai, Latycephala McKamey, Petalocephala Stål and Thlasia Germar (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) with description of six new species, pp. 1-71 in Zootaxa 5623 (1) on pages 13-14, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5623.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15324666