Hylicella , Evans 1956
Creators: name: Lambkin, Kevin J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Hylicellidae
Hylicella

description: Hylicella Evans, 1956   
 Hylicella Evans, 1956: 195.   
 Type species. Hylicella colorata Evans, 1956, by original designation.   
 Emended diagnosis. Tegmen almost 3 times longer than wide; pre-nodal area finely to somewhat coarsely punctate, delimited apically by the suggestion of a nodal line running transversely at the level of the forks of RA, M and CuA; costal margin broadly convex proximally, almost straight distally, apex somewhat broadly rounded; peripheral membrane of even width; costal space c. 3 times as wide as medial cell; R and M separating near apex of basal cell; basal cell quite broad proximally then tapering and closed distally by a fusion for a short length of M and CuA; R fork just before tegmen length, well before M fork which is aligned with RA fork and proximal to CuA fork; RA 1 obliquely angled towards anterior margin, simple; RA 2 continuing in line with RA stem towards apical anterior margin, the RA 1 + RA 2 field thus occupying a very small area at that margin; RA 2 with 2 short branches; RP simple; one ir, running from RA 2 or RA 2b; one r-m, proximal to ir, running to M 1+2, holotype with an additional more distal r-m running to M 1; M with 4 branches, one specimen (QMF3686) with an additional fork on M 3; im between M 2 and M 3 or M 3+4, quite long, intra-medial cell thus short and broad, only c. 2 times longer than wide, relatively large, occupying a significant portion of post-nodal area; CuA 1 with base perpendicular to CuA→CuA 2, crossvein-like, fused with M 3+4 for a short length, its free apical piece curved postero-apically, about the same length as M 4; CuA 2 continuing in line with CuA, very short; apical crossvein field not aligned; clavus not preserved.   
 Notes. As this is the type genus, subsequent authors (e.g. Becker-Migdisova 1962 a, Carpenter 1992, Hamilton 1992, Jell 2004) have maintained its placement in the Hylicellidae, although it is of note that Evans himself later preferred a more general ascription of most of his 1956 genera to the Cicadelloidea only, rather than ‘to particular Families’ (Evans 1961). Hylicella differs from all other hylicellids, except Conjucella Shcherbakov, 2012, in the partial fusion of CuA 1 and M 3+4. Conjucella, however, is otherwise quite distinct, inter alia, in wing shape, structure of the basal cell, RP partially fused with M 1+2, a narrower intramedial cell, and much reduced apical venation (Shcherbakov 2012, figs 1–3). Evans (1956) also mentioned the presence of two RP-M crossveins as diagnostic, but as noted in the emended diagnosis above, the second more distal one is absent in all specimens except the holo- type where it is apparently simply an individual variation. In establishing Hylicella, Evans (1956) also described a second species, H. reducta Evans, 1956, for which Becker-Migdisova (1962b) established a new genus Hylicellites Becker-Migdisova, 1962. A re-examination of the holotype of the species, however, has identified it as a poorly preserved tegmen of Mesojassus australis (Evans, 1956) (Cicadelloidea: Archijassidae), with which H. reducta has now been synonymised (Lambkin 2020).
description: Published as part of Lambkin, Kevin J., 2020, Revision of the Hylicellidae of the Late Triassic of Queensland (Hemiptera Cicadomorpha: Hylicelloidea), pp. 525-539 in Zootaxa 4790 (3) on page 527, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4790.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/3891303