Verdanus (Erdianus) tyrannus Guglielmino & Bückle, 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Guglielmino, Adalgisa
name: Bückle, Christoph
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Verdanus
Verdanus tyrannus

description: Verdanus (Erdianus) tyrannus sp. nov. (Figs. 4D, 4E, 5A–D, 9D)
Description: Typical member of the genus Verdanus (as in Fig. 2 E). Very similar to V. abdominalis in shape, proportions, size, colouration and markings of body, legs and fore wings. Upper side pale green, apical cells of fore wings caudally brownish bordered. Fore wings about as long as abdomen (only sub-brachypterous specimens were collected). Generally the pattern of blackish colouration on frontoclypeus, ventral part of thorax and abdomen and on legs is highly variable.
Male genitalia: Pygofer lobes terminating at the posteroventral apex in a posteriorly directed short spur (as in Fig. 4A) and with a bundle of macrosetae on the dorsal edge. Genital plates (as in Fig. 9 A) long, ratio length of median lobe/width of genital plate base normally 0.9-1.0; macrosetae arranged along lateral borders; dorsally (Fig. 9 D) with a short black spur near the medioapical border of the lateral lobe. Styles (Figs. 4D, 4E) with slender laterally curved apical process. Aedeagus (Figs. 5 A-D) stocky. Basal apodeme with long caudolaterally protruding arms, their apex somewhat bent in ventral direction. Shaft wide and, in lateral view, thin and slightly S-shaped curved, apically with a pair of leaf-like broad acute, distally narrowed and caudally directed appendages, their surface oriented perpendicularly to the sagittal plane (their maximal extension visible in ventral view), and subapically a pair of small triangular, laterally directed processes (Figs. 5 A, 5B); phallotreme terminal.
Female genitalia: Praegenital sternite (as in Fig. 4F) posteriorly with median bifurcate protuberance, to some degree variable in shape. Ovipositor base (as in Figs. 10 A, 10B) with medioventral part somewhat protruding anteriorly.
Measurements: Males. Total body length (from vertex to tip of fore wings) 3.6-4.56 mm; width of head including eyes 1.16-1.28 mm; length of vertex 0.48-0.56 mm; length of pronotum 0.4-0.52 mm; width of pronotum 1.08-1.20 mm; length of genital plates 0.44-0.47 mm; length of aedeagus shaft (from basis to phallotrema) 0.35-0.38 mm. - Females. Total body length (from vertex to tip of fore wings) 3.92-4.56 mm; width of head including eyes 1.32-1.40 mm; length of vertex 0.52-0.60 mm; length of pronotum 0.48-0.52 mm; width of pronotum 1.20-1.28 mm.
Type series: Holotype Male: Italy, Emilia-Romagna (Modena); Passo delle Radici, road to S. Pellegrino between the pass and Bocca dei Fornelli; ~ 1600m; 29/6/2005; undergrowth of a beech-forest with open areas; Guglielmino & Bückle leg. (loc. 188). Paratypes: same data as holotype, 13 males, 1 female. - Emilia- Romagna (Modena); M. Cimone, southern slope and peak area of M. Cervarola; ~ 1550-1600m; 27/6/2005; herbaceous vegetation; Guglielmino & Bückle leg. (loc. 185), 3 males, 2 females.
Type material deposited in Dipartimento di Protezione delle Piante, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy (Guglielmino’s collection) (CG).
Geographic distribution: At present V. tyrannus is known only from M. Cimone (M. Cervarola) and Passo delle Radici (Tuscan-Emilian Apennines) (Fig. 1: rhombus), at an altitude between 1500-1600m.
Biology: Adults were collected in June in mountain meadows and in open grassy areas within beechwood (Fig. 2 A). Probably univoltine.
Remarks: The diagnostic characters of this species are the caudal direction of its apical aedeagus appendages and the triangular shape and subapical position of the lateral aedeagus processes (Figs. 5 A-D).
description: Published as part of Guglielmino, Adalgisa & Bückle, Christoph, 2009, Northern Apennines as centre of speciation: a new Verdanus species group (Hemiptera, Cicadomorpha, Cicadellidae) from Italy and its phylogenetic relationships with V. bensoni and the V. limbatellus group, pp. 1-22 in Zootaxa 2264 on page 6, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.190799