Dysyncritus intectus Fowler 1895
Creators: name: Evangelista, Olivia
name: Flórez-V, Camilo
name: Sakakibara, Albino M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Membracidae
Dysyncritus
Dysyncritus intectus

description: Dysyncritus intectus Fowler, 1895
Figures 3, 5–6, 23–24, 36, 45–46, 62–69.
Dysyncritus intectus Fowler, 1895b: 81 [new species, illustrated: Pl. VI, Figs. 13 a,b]; Buckton, 1903a: 127 [described, illustrated: Pl. XXVI, Figs. 5, 5 a]; Goding, 1930b: 14 [key, comparative notes]; Broomfield, 1971a: 356 [listed, type specimen in BMNH]; Deitz, 1975a: 150, Figs. 43 G and 44F [misidentified]; Metcalf & Wade, 1965a: 645 [catalogued]; McKamey, 1998a: 162 [catalogued].
Procyrta intectus; Funkhouser, 1927f: 153 [error]; Funkhouser, 1951a: 84, Pl. III, Fig. 39 [illustrated, catalogued].
Diagnosis. Pronotum variegated brown, ferruginous and yellow, with a transversal brown band extended from approximately mid-length to apex, interrupted by two pre-apical white stripes, anterior stripe larger; dorsal contour line almost straight post humeral angles in lateral profile, slanting diagonally from apical third towards acute apex. Forewings with discoidal cell triangular, membrane with dark macula at R1, R2+3, R4+5, and adjacent limbus. Male genitalia with U-shaped aedeagus, dorsal surface of shaft covered with minute teeth; style elongate, hook-shaped distally; subgenital plate truncate anteriorly, lobes separated at base.
Description. Lectotype female. Color: head yellow, mottled brown and testaceous. Pronotum variegated with the same colors, predominantly yellow anteriorly, with two pairs of diagonal brown bands on metopidium, as seen in frontal view: first pair right above supraocular callosities, V-shaped, extended from near median carina to humeral angles; second pair broader, triangular, descending straight past humeral angles, and reaching lateral margins of pronotum before mid-dorsum in lateral view. Posterior process with transverse brown patch, mottled yellow, anteriorly oblique, extended from mid-length to apex, interrupted by two pre-apical white rings, anterior ring larger. Forewings hyaline, coriaceous areas and veins variegated with same colors of pronotum, membrane with dark macula at R1, R2+3, R4+5, and adjacent limbus. Legs yellow spotted brown. Abdomen yellow.
Head: vertex pentagonal, wider than long; ocelli closer to eyes than to each other; area below ocelli slightly deflected backwards, lower margins of supra antennal ledges and frontoclypeus discreetly curved forwards in fronto-lateral view; frontoclypeus exceeding half of its length below lower margins of suprantennal ledges, tapering to triangular, acute apex, weakly scoop-shaped (sensu Dietrich et al., 2001).
FIGURES 1–4. General morphology of Dysyncritus and Allodrilus gen. nov.: 1–2. A. similis Evangelista sp. nov., holotype male (NCSU), frontal and lateral view, respectively; 3–4. Forewings (top) and hind wings (bottom): 3. D. intectus Fowler, paralectotype male (BMNH); 4. A. nitidipennis (Funkhouser) comb. nov. Structures of taxonomic importance indicated: apx: apex of posterior process; ca: coriaceous area; cs: coronal suture; dcl: dorsal contour line (or dorsum); ey: eye; fc: frontoclypeus; fw: forewing; ha: humeral angle; jb: jugal lobe; mc: median carina; mt: metopidium; oc: ocellus; ps: post ocular lobe; sa: supra antennal ledge; sc: supra ocular callosity. The asterisk indicates that the forewing vein M3+4 is anomalous in this specimen of D. intectus.
Pronotum: median carina distinct from base, slightly elevated, not keeled at metopidium in frontal view; humeral angles triangular, slender; in lateral view, dorsum low, almost straight from above humeral angles to apical third, with discreet indentation at the middle, slanting towards an acute apex, not reaching the apex of fifth apical cell; posterior process keeled past mid-dorsum; post-ocular lobes flat, apex truncate.
Wings: forewings with coriaceous areas occupying one-third of clavus and R cell, and half of the first basal cell; discoidal cell triangular. Hind wings with cell A2 tear drop-shaped.
Paralectotype male: slightly smaller than female. Pronotum dark brown mottled yellow, brown bands on metopidium less distinct than female, anterior yellow ring large, occupying one-third of dorsum at mid-length; forewing veins dark brown in apical half, opaque brown maculae extended over second apical cell and adjacent limbus. Hind tibiae with prominent cucullate setae in rows I and II, row III with comparatively smaller cucullate setae, along almost entire tibia; tibial area between rows covered with minute setae. Subgenital and lateral plates not swollen, sheet-like; subgenital plate rectangular in ventral view, truncate at base, lobes separating basally, tapering apically, apex triangular; aedeagus well developed, shaft cylindrical, U-shaped, covered with minute teeth superiorly on ventral surface, apex with small lateral projections, one at each side; styles robust, shank elongated, apex hook-shaped, narrowed pre-apically.
Distribution. MEXICO (Tabasco: Teapa); GUATEMALA (Alta Verapaz: San Juan Chamelco; listed in Fowler, 1895b); HONDURAS (Yoro: Yoro).
Measurements. Paralectotype male (lectotype female not measured) (mm). Body length: 5.08; pronotal length: 3.17; maximum height of pronotum: 2.50; length of tegmina: 4.42; pronotal width: 2.25; head width: 2.00; vertex width: 1.25; vertex length: 1.00.
Examined material. Lectotype female from MEXICO: Tabasco: Teapa, ‘Type’, ‘Teapa \ Tabasco. \ March. H. H. S.’, ‘Brit[ish]. Mus[eum]. \ 1904-55.’, ‘ Dysyncritus \ intectus Fowler \ TYPE’ (BMNH). Paralectotype male: ‘[round blue label] PARA- \ LECTO- \ TYPE’, ‘[round yellow label] Para- \ type’, ‘San Juan, \ Vera Paz \ Champion’, ‘B. C. A. Homo pt. II \ Dysyncritus \ intectus, \ Fowl[er].’, ‘Brit[ish]. Mus[eum]. \ 1904-55.’, ‘[red label] PARA-LECTOTYPE \ Dysyncritus \ intectus \ Fowl[er]. \ P. S. Broomfield. 1969’ (BMNH). Additional material from HONDURAS: Yoro: Yoro: ‘Yoro \ Honduras \ 9-31-30 ’, ‘WD Funkhouser collection \ 1962’, ‘ Procyrta intectus \ Fowl. \ Det \ WD Funkhouser’ (02 males, the latter label in one specimen) (USNM, DZUP).
Notes on type-specimens. Lectotype female (BMNH) glued to a card, in good conditions (hind wings, legs, and abdomen intact, however partially concealed by the glue). Paralectotype male (BMNH) well preserved, with left hind tibia, left wings, and abdomen dissected; specimen originally glued to a card, now minuten mounted. Left forewing and hind wing glued to a pinned paper point (left forewing with M3+4 anomalous: these veins should be entirely confluent, however they diverge pre-apically [Fig. 3, indicated by an asterisk]). Apex of posterior process broken.
Remarks (also refer to remarks on Dysyncritus). The scarcity of museum specimens and accurate illustrations of D. intectus led to confusion on its identity in many sources. Despite being often misidentified, representatives of D. intectus show distinctive morphological features that enable their prompt recognition: the medially convex vertex, the overall shape of the pronotum (dorsally straight, then sloping diagonally), the triangular discoidal cell, the unusual forewing venation (R1 branching prior to R s A+R s P), and the cheatotaxy of hind legs. The hind tibiae show conspicuous cucullate setae on rows I, II, and III; the first two rows show much larger spines, in a similar fashion to membracines, and setae on row III extend along most of the tibiae (Fig 69). Interestingly, the tibial surface between the rows is densely covered with minute setae (Fig. 69 a), a feature not yet observed in other heteronotines.
As previously noted, Funkhouser considered Dysyncritus a junior synonym of Procyrta Stål in two publications (Funhouser 1927f, 1951a), however, contemporary treehopper specialists overlooked this synonymy (i.e., Goding, 1930b; Metcalf and Wade, 1965a). Although based on an accurately identified specimen of D. intectus, the illustration provided by Funkhouser (1951a: Pl. III, Fig. 39) is imprecise in a few important aspects. The specimen is depicted in lateral view, with the pronotal contour line distinctly constricted at midlength (similarly to Procyrta species). Such dorsal indentation is, in fact, very subtle in D. intectus, and the dorsum is almost straight from above humeral angles to apical third, descending in a diagonal line to a distinctly shorter, less acute pronotal apex than the illustration indicates. Pronotal shape was presumably the primary feature Funkhouser (1927f, 1951a) took into account when he established this synonymy. Funkhouser’s line drawing (1951a: Fig. 39) shows R and M+Cu separate at base in the forewing, however apparently united further at one point, then diverging beyond. The exact point where R1 branches out—another major feature that determines both genus and species—is not visible in the illustrations of either Funkhouser (1951a: Plate III, Fig. 39) or Fowler (1895b: Plate VI, Fig. 13).
description: Published as part of Evangelista, Olivia, Flórez-V, Camilo & Sakakibara, Albino M., 2014, The identity of the treehopper genus Dysyncritus Fowler, with descriptions of new related taxa (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Heteronotinae), pp. 495-532 in Zootaxa 3847 (4) on pages 499-505, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3847.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/249922