Metanigrus afflatus Lv & Yang & Chen 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Lv, Shasha
name: Yang, Lin
name: Chen, Xiangsheng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Meenoplidae
Metanigrus
Metanigrus afflatus

description: Metanigrus afflatus sp. nov.
Figs 1–13
Measurements. Length (including forewing): male 3.83–4.23 mm (N = 2), female 4.41–4.75 mm (N = 2).
Diagnosis. Upper part of frons (Fig. 4) grayish brown, middle and basal parts yellowish brown; forewings (Fig. 5) with black spots, veins brown; apex of pygofer (Fig. 7) each with an obtuse process in ventral view; basolateral fingerlike process of anal tube (Fig. 6) tapering at apex, apex curved dorsad, with a protrusion in lateral view; apex of aedeagus (Figs 6, 13) expanded in lateral view; outer process of gonostyli (Figs 6, 10) sharply angular at apex in lateral view.
Coloration. General color grayish yellow (Figs 1, 2), with thin white wax powder. Upper part of frons grayish brown, middle and basal parts yellowish brown. Clypeus yellowish brown. Eyes black, ocelli grayish white. Pronotum white, middle aera with 2 faint yellowish brown spots. Mesonotum fuscous. Forewings with black spots, veins brown. Hindwings hyaline.
Head and thorax. Head (Figs 1, 3) significantly narrower than pronotum, without median carina. Vertex (Figs 1, 3) shorter in middle line than wide basally (1: 2.31), with two posterolateral areolets at base not meeting medially. Frons (Fig. 4) subrectangular, without median carina, longer in middle line than wide at widest portion (about 1.73: 1), lateral carinae with a row of dense sensory pits along outer margin. Postclypeus (Fig. 4) with distinct median and lateral carinae. Frontoclypeal suture nearly straight. Rostrum elongate, in repose well surpassing hind coxae. Pronotum (Fig. 3) wider than maximum width of head (including eyes) (1.32: 1), with median carina and sinuate lateral carinae. Mesonotum (Fig. 3) about 5.41 times longer than pronotum in midline, with distinct median carina. Forewings (Fig. 5) slender, longer than maximal width (2.77: 1), almost as wide at postnodal as prenodal area, veins ScP + R + MP with several sensory pits, MP3 two branched; five postnodal closed cells with C1 smaller than C2, C5 placed next to C3, C4 distally displaced after nodal line, im, r-m and anterior two-thirds of margin with white areas. Hindwings (Fig. 8) with lateral margin notched at CuA1, CuP, and A2, more strongly at A1; A2 not reaching posterior margin. Metatibiotarsal formula: (3+5)-6-5.
Male genitalia. Pygofer (Figs 6, 7) symmetrical, gradually narrowed towards apex, with sinuate anterior and posterior margins, pygopher with internal sulcus; in ventral view, lateral margins slightly curved, apex each with an obtuse process. Anal tube (Figs 6, 9) in lateral view, hand-shaped, anal style slender, lateral lobes distally shorter than anal style, dorsolateral fingerlike process stout, apex rounded, basolateral fingerlike process tapering towards end, apex curved dorsad, with a protrusion; symmetrical in dorsal view, with a thick fingerlike process on each side, rounded at apex. Aedeagus (Figs 6, 12, 13) slender, long, apex expanded in lateral view, with tubular periandrium, lateral lobes swelling on both sides, surface beset with scale-like productions, ventral lobe slender with acute apex, dorsal lobes fingerlike; in ventral view, middle part wider. Gonostyli (Figs 6, 7, 10, 11) slender, divided into two parts, inner process extremely narrow, curved apically, tapering into a process; in lateral view, outer process convex, apex sharply angular, inner margin with long setae; in ventral view, divergent, top of outer process fist-like, inner process sharpened downward; in dorsal view, lateral margins curved, outer process enlarged at apex.
Type material. Holotype: ♂, CHINA: Jianfengling National Natural Reserve, Hainan Province, 13 May 2021, Sha-Sha Lv. Paratypes: 1♂, 2♀♀, Jianfengling National Natural Reserve, Hainan Province, 13 May 2021, Sha-Sha Lv, Lan Zhang, Yong-Jin Sui.
Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Latin adjective “ afflatus ”, referring to the apex of aedeagus expanded in lateral view.
Remarks. This species is similar to M. guttatus Lv & Chen, 2021, but differs from the latter in: (1) basolateral fingerlike process of anal tube tapering at apex in lateral view (basolateral fingerlike process of anal tube rounded at apex in lateral view in M. guttatus); (2) apex of aedeagus expanded in lateral view (apex of aedeagus unexpanded in lateral view in M. guttatus); (3) outer process of gonostyli sharply angular at apex in lateral view (outer process of gonostyli nearly fan-shaped at apex in lateral view in M. guttatus).
Host plant. Bamboo (Bambusoideae).
Distribution. China (Hainan province) (Fig. 27).
description: Published as part of Lv, Shasha, Yang, Lin & Chen, Xiangsheng, 2024, Two new species of the planthopper genus Metanigrus Tsaur, Yang & Wilson from China (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Meenoplidae), with an updated checklist and key to species, pp. 289-295 in Zootaxa 5419 (2) on pages 290-292, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5419.2.8, http://zenodo.org/record/10792148