Curtara (Curtara) dilatata Laranjeira & Gonçalves & Takiya 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Laranjeira, Vanessa Cristina
name: Gonçalves, Clayton Corrêa
name: Takiya, Daniela Maeda
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Curtara
Curtara dilatata

description: Curtara (Curtara) dilatata sp. nov.
(Figures 14–25, 92, 93)
Type locality. Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, Itatiaia, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.
Diagnosis. Head and thorax (Figs 92, 93) dull yellow with several dark punctures on crown, frons, pronotum and mesonotum. Forewing (Fig. 17) outer discal cell with inner apical accessory vein or veins; membrane with several small brown mottled maculae along the entire length of the wing. Male sternite VIII (Fig. 18) subtriangular; lateral margins converging apically; posterior margin rounded, slightly excavated medially. Male pygofer (Fig. 20), in lateral view, subtriangular; without process. Subgenital plate (Fig. 21), in ventral view, subrectangular, apex rounded. Connective (Fig. 22) transverse. Style (Fig. 23) with blade compressed laterally; ventral margin serrated at apical half; apex hook-shaped, curved dorsally. Aedeagus (Figs 24, 25) atrium with a pair of elongated processes, each strongly expanded at apical half; shaft with apex expanded with a pair of short spiniform lateral asymmetrical processes, directed dorsally.
Measurements (mm). Measurements (mm). Total length. Holotype male: 9.6. Male paratypes (n = 4): 9.1– 9.6.
Coloration. Head and thorax (Figs 14, 15, 92, 93) dull yellow, crown, frons, pronotum and mesonotum with several dark punctures. Crown (Fig. 14) with a small black macula at anterior margin, pair of elongated dark maculae anterior and adjacent to ocelli. Face (Fig. 15) dull yellow; frons with black transverse bands over muscle impressions; antennal pits dark brown; lorum without macula; clypeus with two pairs of dark maculae, one median pair with maculae elongated and second pair with maculae small at apical margin; gena dull yellow with a small black spot adjacent to ventral margin. Proepimeron (Fig. 16) with black stripe below pronotal carina. Mesonotum (Fig. 14) with lateral angles dark brown. Forewing (Fig. 17) dull yellow with several small brown mottled maculae along the entire length of the wing; veins yellow, apex of anal veins and crossveins m-cu1 and m-cu2 dark brown; appendix with a small brown basal and a large brown macula near apex. Legs dull yellow with dark brown and small spots areas; metatibia with cucullate bases of setae dark.
Description. Head (Fig. 14), in dorsal view, with crown with median length approximately two-thirds of interocular width, transocular width about nine-tenths of pronotal humeral width; texture with irregular transverse striae, except oblique to longitudinal between ocelli; anterior margin rounded, not projected over anterior margin of the eye; ocelli slightly closer to posterior than anterior margin and closer to midline than to compound eyes. Head (Fig. 15), in ventral view, wider than tall; frons two times longer than wide; frontogenal suture distant from eye margin 2.5 times the diameter of the antennal scape; antennal ledge carinated and oblique, slightly extended over frons; clypeus 1.4 times longer than maximum width, lateral margins straight and parallel. Head (Fig. 16), in lateral view, with transition crown-face defined, thin, and, smooth. Pronotum (Fig. 14), in dorsal view, lateral margins longer than length of eye. Forewing (Fig. 17) with outer discal cell with inner apical accessory vein or veins (holotype with one longitudinal and one transverse apical accessory veins); m-cu1 crossvein closer to the m-cu2 crossvein than to the R+M fork, m-cu2 anterad to r-m1; appendix slightly narrower than first apical cell. Metatarsomere I pecten with 6 platellae and an external spine. Metatarsomere II with pecten with 3 platellae and a spine on each side.
Male terminalia. Sternite VIII (Fig. 18), in ventral view, subtriangular; 1.8 times wider than long; lateral margins converging apically; posterior margin rounded, slightly excavated medially. Valve (Fig. 19), in ventral view, 3.2 times wider than long; slightly sclerotized at middle third; posterior margin deeply excavated medially. Pygofer (Fig. 20), in lateral view, subtriangular; high at base and narrowing towards apex; 1.3 times longer than high; posterodorsal margin slightly excavated, posteroventral margin rounded; macrosetae dispersed medially and apically; apex almost truncated. Anal tube (Fig. 20) membranous. Subgenital plate (Fig. 20), in lateral view, long, almost reaching apex of pygofer; in ventral view, (Fig. 21) elongated and subrectangular, 3.9 times longer than maximum width; outer lateral margin slightly excavated medially; inner lateral margin slightly rounded; apex rounded. Connective (Fig. 22), in dorsal view, transverse; stem absent; dorsal keel absent. Style (Fig. 22), in dorsal view, with outer lobe reduced, subacute; in lateral view (Fig. 23), blade straight; outer face with several sparse setae; ventral margin smooth at basal half and serrated at apical half; apex hook-shaped, strongly curved dorsally. Aedeagus (Figs 24, 25) with preatrium underdeveloped; dorsal apodeme developed, dorsal margin broadly excavated, lateral margins projected laterally; atrium with pair of elongated processes, slightly shorter than shaft, thin at basal half and strongly expanded at apical half, dorsal margin excavated at apical portion, apex acute; shaft elongated, thin, tubular, slightly asymmetrical; basal portion, in lateral view, curved forming an U; apex flattened, expanded laterally with a pair of short spiniform lateral asymmetrical processes, directed dorsally.
Female terminalia. Female unknown.
Etymology. The new species name comes from the Latin word ‘dilatatus’ meaning dilated. It refers to the expanded apex of the aedeagus (Fig. 25).
Material examined. Holotype male: “ Brazil, RJ, Itatiaia, PNI,\ 27.II.2014, S22º24’10.6’’ W\ 44º38’28.3’’, 2162m, ponto\ 06, Monteiro et al. (DZRJ)”; Paratypes: Itatiaia: 2 ♂, “same data as holotype, except: “ 25.IV.2014 ” (MNRJ)”; 2 ♂ “same data as holotype, except: “ 05.XII.2014 ” (DZUP, MNRJ)”.
Taxonomic notes. Curtara (Curtara) dilatata sp. nov. resembles the Curtara (Curtara) concava DeLong & Freytag, 1976 by its external morphology, color pattern, styles with strongly curved apex (Fig. 23), aedeagus with atrial processes expanded at apical half, and shaft apically expanded with spiniform processes (Figs 24, 25). However, Curtara (Curtara) dilatata sp. nov. differs from Curtara concava and other species of the genus by the following set of characteristics: pygofer with apex almost truncated (Fig. 20); style with blade compressed laterally, with ventral margin serrated on apical half (Fig. 23); and aedeagus with apex of shaft with two asymmetrical lateral spiniform processes (Fig. 24).
Curtara (Curtara) dilatata sp. nov. was collected at PNI only at 2,162 m a.s.l.
description: Published as part of Laranjeira, Vanessa Cristina, Gonçalves, Clayton Corrêa & Takiya, Daniela Maeda, 2024, Curtara DeLong & Freytag, 1972 (Cicadellidae: Iassinae: Gyponini) from Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, Southeastern Brazil: description of six new species and new species records, pp. 547-571 in Zootaxa 5458 (4) on pages 553-556, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5458.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/11548094