Melanastera tibialis Serbina & Malenovský & Queiroz & Burckhardt 2025
Creators: name: Serbina, Liliya Š.
name: Malenovský, Igor
name: Queiroz, Dalva L.
name: Burckhardt, Daniel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Liviidae
Melanastera
Melanastera tibialis

description: 36 Melanastera tibialis sp. nov.
(Figs 11G, 18A, 29S–X)
Type material. Holotype ♂: Brazil: SÃO PAULO: São José do Barreiro, Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina, Cachoeira das Posses, S22.7745, W44.6019, 1220 m, 7.iv.2019, Pleroma sp. (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #319(2) (UFPR; dry).
Paratypes. Brazil: SÃO PAULO: 1 ♂, 2 ♀, 4 immatures, 5 skins, same as holotype but (NHMB; slide, 70% ethanol; NMB-PSYLL0008093, NMB-PSYLL0008153 [LSMeltib-104], NMB-PSYLL0008154 [LSMeltib-104], NMB-PSYLL0008155 [LSMeltib-104], NMB-PSYLL0008156, NMB-PSYLL0008157).
Description. Adult. Coloration. Yellow; head and thorax with dark brown dots. Antennal segments 3–8 apically and segments 9–10 entirely dark brown. Mesoscutum with four broad orange longitudinal stripes, margined by dark brown dots, and one row of brown dots in the middle. Forewing (Fig. 18A) yellow with scattered brown dots; apices of pterostigma, veins Rs, M 1+2, M 3+4, Cu 1a and Cu 1b brown. Legs yellow to brown, apical tarsal segments brown. Abdomen and terminalia orange.
Structure. Forewing (Fig. 18A) oblong-oval, widest slightly in the middle, relatively evenly rounded apically; wing apex situated in cell r 2 near apex of M 1+2 apex; C+Sc distinctly curved in distal third; pterostigma slightly wider than cell r 1 in the middle, weakly expanding to apical third; Rs almost straight in basal two thirds, weakly curved to fore margin apically; M longer than M 1+2 and M 3+4; Cu 1a weakly irregularly curved, ending at M fork; surface spinules present in all cells, leaving narrow spinule-free stripes along the veins, forming hexagons of a double row of spinules, spinules absent from basal half of cell c+sc. Hindwing with 3–4 + 3 grouped costal setae. Metatibia bearing a posteriorly open crown of 8–11 ungrouped apical spurs.
Terminalia (Fig. 29S–X). Male. Proctiger, tubular, weakly produced posteriorly; densely covered with long setae in apical two thirds. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, subglobular; dorsal margin strongly curved; posterior margin slightly concave; with densely spaced long setae. Paramere, in lateral view, asymmetrically lanceolate; apex, in lateral view, blunt, directed upwards, in dorsal view, paramere relatively broad subapically, apex sclerotised and pointed, directed inwards; outer and inner faces with dense, moderately long setae; posterior margin with long setae. Proximal segment of aedeagus with apical part moderately subdivided. Distal segment of aedeagus with weakly convex ventral margin and weakly sinuate dorsal margin in basal half; ventral process situated slightly distal of the middle of the segment, simple, lacking lateral lobes, in lateral view, ventral process narrow, lamellar, in dorsal view, ventral process narrower than apical dilation, spatulate, constricted medially, broadest subapically, rounded apically); apical dilation broad, in lateral view, slightly widening towards broadly rounded apex, broadest in apical third, dorsal part of apical dilation membranous and expanded at base, in dorsal view, apical dilation broadest medially, narrowly rounded apically; sclerotised end tube short and weakly curved.—Female terminalia cuneate; densely covered with setae. Dorsal margin of proctiger, in lateral view, with a small convexity distal to circumanal ring, straight in apical third, apex blunt; in dorsal view, apex subacute; circumanal ring, in dorsal view, distinctly cruciform. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, abruptly narrowing to apex in apical half, apex pointed; in ventral view, apex blunt.
Fifth instar immature. Coloration. Brownish yellow; antenna yellow to pale brown, gradually becoming darker towards apex, segments 6–10 dark brown.
Structure. Eye with one short simple ocular seta dorsally.Antennal segments with following numbers of pointed sectasetae: 1(0), 2(1), 3(0), 4(2), 5(0), 6(2), 7(1), 8(1), 9(0), 10(0). Each forewing pad with 6–7 pointed sectasetae marginally and ca. 20 pointed sectasetae or lanceolate setae dorsally; hindwing pad with 2–3 ponted sectasetae marginally and several pointed sectasetae and lanceolate setae dorsally. Metatibiotarsus long; tarsal arolium broadly fan-shaped apically, 1.5 times as long as claws. Abdominal tergites anterior to caudal plate with three rows of 4, 5–6 and 6 pointed sectasetae dorsally, respectively. Caudal plate dorsally with one row of 11 pointed sectasetae along anterior margin, a row of 10 pointed sectesetae submedially, two groups of 3 pointed sectasetae on each side in the middle and one group of 5 pointed sectasetae on each side subapically, anterior to circumanal ring. Caudal plate with anterior margin relatively remote from anterior margin of extra pore fields. Extra pore fields forming continuous outer and inner bands, consisting of large oval and rounded patches; outer band relatively short medially, end pointing backwards. Circumanal ring small.
Host plant. Pleroma sp. (Melastomataceae).
Distribution. Brazil (SP).
Derivation of name. From the Latin noun tibia = shin, referring to the long metatibia.
Comments. Melanastera tibialis sp. nov. and M. pleromatos sp. nov. are morphologically similar and differ from the other members of the trematos -group in the ungrouped (versus grouped) metatibial spurs. M. tibialis differs from M. pleromatos as follows: MT> 0.4, MT/HW> 0.8 (versus MT <0.4, MT/HW <0.8), a slightly more (versus less) produced anterior margin of the paramere and the female proctiger bearing (versus lacking) a small swelling distal to the circumanal ring. The uncorrected p-distance between the two species (M. tibialis: sample DB-DLQ#319(2) and M. pleromatos: sample DB-DLQ#187(3)) is 15.2% for COI and 16.2% for cytb.
description: Published as part of Serbina, Liliya Š., Malenovský, Igor, Queiroz, Dalva L. & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2025, Jumping plant-lice of the tribe Paurocephalini (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Liviidae) in Brazil, pp. 1-164 in Zootaxa 5585 (1) on pages 82-83, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5585.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15007669