Machaerota conicapita Nie & Liang, 2008, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Nie, Jing
name: Liang, Ai-Ping
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Machaerotidae
Machaerota
Machaerota conicapita

description: Machaerota conicapita sp. nov.
(Figs. 1–3)
Description: male, length (from apex of postclypeus to tip of forewings) 8.2–10.0mm, length of forewing 6.2–7.9mm. Relative breadths of head (including eyes), pronotum and scutellum 31: 68: 30.
General color brown, richly marked with brownish black. Postclypeus shining black, or mainly rufous, black only at upper portion of its anterior carina. Tentorial pit black. Upper portion of gena proper brown, lower part black. Pronotum yellow brown, richly marked with fuscous; median carina black on anterior 3/4, yellow brown on posterior 1/4, or entirely yellow brown; calli dark brown, or yellow orange; oblique ental carina and apical part of lateral angle brown. Scutellum proper brown, with darker punctures; lateral stripe yellowish white; postero-inferior margin fuscous on upper 1/2, yellowish white on lower 1/2; scutellar process brown; basilateral depression black, or black on basal part and brown on apical part. Forewing hyaline, veins yellowish brown, without darker punctures; corium apically tinted with brown. Legs brown. Abdomen blackish brown, with a yellowish white longitudinal stripe in the middle of tergites; tergite 3 yellowish brown (Figs. 1 A, B).
Postclypeus (Figs. 2 A, B, E, F) produced both forwards and upwards into a distinct subconic process, with 4 longitudinal carinae, anterior one broad, gradually widened and weakened towards anteclypeus, other 3 carinae narrow and short, only feebly indicated near apex of the process, posterior carina much shorter than lateral ones; postclypeus laterally with 10–12 haired transverse impressed lines, lower ones indistinct; tylus (Fig. 2 A) without median fovea, strongly descending laterad, slightly longer than its widest breadth when viewed vertically to its plane. Apex of head process higher than eye in profile. Antennal ledge (Figs. 2 A, E) curved; ocellar area (Fig. 2 A) gently descending laterad. Ocellus (Fig. 2 A) slightly closer to occipital margin than to transverse frontal suture; interocellar distance nearly 2X ocello-ocular distance. Tentorial pit shallow, elliptic, connected with occipital margin. Occipital margin (Fig. 2 A) strongly reflexed at middle. Pleurostome and lorum (Fig. 2 B) haired and non-wrinkled, they are almost equal in breadth and both narrower than gena proper. Anteclypeus (Fig. 2 F) without median carina.
Pronotum (Figs. 1 B; 2A, B, E) convex, width to length about 17:10; strongly punctate except at ante-callus area; median carina strong at anterior 3/4, posterior 1/4 indistinct; calli elliptic; anterior margin of pronotum curved forwards at middle, longer than posterior margin; anterolateral margin reflexed at anterior 1/3, about 1.5X as long as posterolateral margin; lateral angle produced into angulate lamina, protruding beyond level of basal sclerites of closed forewings; oblique ental carina long; posterolateral margin concavely curved; posterolateral angle acute, protruding behind; posterior margin sinuate at middle.
Scutellum (Figs. 1 A; 2A, B) similarly sculptured as pronotum, posteriorly strongly elevated; lateral stripe exceedingly upcurved, distinctly narrowed caudad, meeting dorsal sulcus, about 4X as long as its widest breadth; dorsal sulcus about 5/7 as long as scutellum proper, slightly narrowed near apex, its rims slightly explanated; height of scutellum proper to length of lateroventral margin about 13:10. Scutellar process almost as long as scutellum proper, strongly arched in profile; basilateral depression much longer than its breadth; basidorsal carina hardly entering dorsal sulcus.
Forewing (Fig. 2 C) about 3.8–4.3X as long as broad, apically acute; discoidal cell about 3.3–3.5X as long as broad, smooth; claval vein apically branched; apical cells slightly wrinkled, membrane and apex of corium slightly wrinkled. Hind leg (Figs. 1 A; 2D) slender, long; tibia lacking lateral spine; inner apical lobe of tarsomere 1 slightly longer than outer lobe, that of tarsomere 2 about 2X as long as its corresponding outer one.
Male genitalia (Figs. 3 A, C, D) with apical lobe of pygofer (Fig. 3 A) narrowly rounded, scabrous area black, sculpture finely roundish. Pygofer with a haired roundish area (Figs. 3 A, C) in the middle of its membranous part in hind view, this area protruded as a hemisphere in lateral view. Genital plates (Figs. 3 B, D) connected at basal 1/3, separated at apical 2/3. Paramere (Fig. 3 E) basally wide in profile, with a fovea on the middle of its dorsal margin, apical part narrow and thickly haired. Aedeagus (Fig. 3 F) without scales.
Female: Unknown.
Specimens examined: Holotype: male, China, Yunnan, Xishuangbanna, Menglong, Mengsong, 1600m, 28 April 1958 (Xu-Wu Meng) (IZCAS). Paratypes: 2 males, China, Yunnan, Xishuangbanna, Menga, 1050m, 12 May 1958 (Han-Hua Cheng) (IZCAS); 1 male, Laos, Borikhane Province, Pakkading, 100–200m, 23 April 1965 (J. L. Gressitt) (BPBM).
Etymology: This new species is named for its subconic head process.
Remarks: This new species can be easily distinguished from most of its congeners by the shape of head (Figs. 2 A, B, E, F) and from most by the elongate and apically acute forewing (Figs. 2 B, C). Externally it is similar to M. punctatonervosa Signoret, 1879 from Sri Lanka (see Maa, 1963), but can be separated from the latter by the following characters: scutellum with lateral stripe; veins of forewing without superimposed spots; head process produced both forwards and upwards; tylus without median fovea; anteclypeuse without median carina; lateral angle of pronotum acute, protruding beyond level of basal sclerites of closed forewings; pronotum with distinct oblique ental carinae; and discoidal cell of forewing about 3.3–3.5X as long as broad.
Distribution: Southwestern China (Yunnan Prov.), Laos (Borikhane Prov.).
description: Published as part of Nie, Jing & Liang, Ai-Ping, 2008, A new species of Machaerota Burmeister (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Machaerotidae) from China and Laos, pp. 63-68 in Zootaxa 1727 on pages 65-68, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.181252