Melanastera dimorpha 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 dimorpha

description: 30 Melanastera dimorpha sp. nov.
(Figs 10J, 11A, 17D, E, 28G–L)
Type material. Holotype ♂: Brazil: MINAS GERAIS: Vargem Bonita, Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, Cachoeira Casca d’Anta, plateau, S20.2976 /2986, W46.5195 /5289, 1160–1250 m, 6.ix.2014, Guatteria sellowiana (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #144(6) (UFPR; dry).
Paratypes. Brazil: MINAS GERAIS: 5 ♂, 7 ♀, 5 immatures, same as holotype but (MMBC, NHMB, UFPR; dry, slide, 70% ethanol; NMB-PSYLL0007986, NMB-PSYLL0007987, NMB-PSYLL0007843 [LSMeldim-39], NMB-PSYLL0007844 [LSMeldim-39], NMB-PSYLL0007845 [LSMeldim-39], NMB-PSYLL0007846 [LSMeldim-39], NMB-PSYLL0007847); 1 ♂, 10 immatures, same but (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #144(2) (NHMB; 70% ethanol; NMB-PSYLL0007819).
Description. Adult. Coloration. Sexually dimorphic. Male dark brown to almost black. Antenna whitish, scape and pedicel brown, apices of segments 3–8 and entire segments 9–10 dark brown. Forewing (Fig. 17D) relatively evenly dark brown, with white band in cell c+sc along R+M+Cu and along nodal line; in apical third of wing with sparse inconspicuous irregular light dots. Metatibia and metabasitarsus yellow, apical metatarsal segment brown. Female straw-coloured, head and thorax with small dark brown dots, mesoscutum with brown longitudinal bands. Antenna as in male. Forewing (Fig. 17E) ochreous with moderately dense brown dots, becoming denser towards apex; apex of pterostigma and apices of veins Rs, M 1+2, M 3+4, Cu 1a and Cu 1b dark brown. Coxae brown, meracanthus whitish; pro- and mesofemora with greyish brown transverse subapical band, metafemora with brownish dots; apical tarsal segments brown. Abdominal tergites partly, and sternites entirely dark brown. Younger specimens with less extended dark colour.
Structure. Microsculpture on vertex partly reduced in ♂ (Fig. 10J), fully developed on ♀ (Fig. 11A). Forewing oval, broadest distal of the middle, broadly, unevenly rounded apically; wing apex in male situated in cell r 2 near apex of M 1+2, in female at apex of M 1+2; C+Sc weakly curved in distal third (male) or in the middle (female); pterostigma distinctly (in male) or slightly (in female) narrower in the middle than cell r 1, irregularly convex; Rs in basal two thirds weakly, in apical third strongly curved to fore margin; M longer than M 1+2 and M 3+4; Cu 1a in basal two thirds moderately (in male) or weakly (in female) curved, ending proximal of M fork; surface spinules in male present in all cells except for most of cell c+sc, leaving narrow spinule-free stripes along the veins, forming hexagons of a single row of spinules in apical third of the wing; surface spinules in female present in all cells, covering the entire membrane, forming distinct hexagons of a double row of spinules. Hindwing with 8–11 ungrouped or grouped (3–4 + 3–4) costal setae. Metatibia bearing 5–7 grouped apical spurs, arranged as 2–3 + 3–4, separated 3 bristles.
Terminalia (Fig. 28G–L). Male. Proctiger, slender, subcylindrical, weakly produced posteriorly; densely covered with long setae in apical two thirds. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, irregularly ovoid; dorsal margin weakly curved, posterior margin slightly convex; with sparse, long setae. Paramere, in lateral view, relatively symmetrically, narrowly lanceolate; paramere apex, in dorsal view, blunt, directed inwards, lacking distinct sclerotised tooth; outer face with sparse, moderately long setae in apical two thirds; inner face with dense, moderately long setae; posterior margin with long setae. Proximal segment of aedeagus with apical part moderately subdivided. Distal segment of aedeagus weakly sinuate in basal three fifths; ventral process situated in apical third of segment, in lateral view, short, simple, knob-shaped, directed slightly obliquely ventro-apicad, almost in continuation of basal part of the segment, unevenly rounded apically, lacking lateral lobes; in ventral view, ventral process small, oval, with evenly rounded apex; apical dilation, in lateral view, long, slightly widening towards unevenly rounded apex, which is weakly directed ventrad, apical dilation dorsally bearing a large membranous lobe, dorsal margin convex, strongly angular basally; in dorsal view, apical dilation gradually widening towards evenly rounded apex; sclerotised end tube moderately long and slightly sinuate.—Female terminalia cuneate; densely covered with setae. Dorsal margin of proctiger, in lateral view, almost straight, apex subacute; in dorsal view, apex blunt; circumanal ring, in dorsal view, cruciform. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, irregularly narrowing to apex, pointed apically; in ventral view, apex narrowly truncate.
Fifth instar immature. Coloration. Pale yellow; antenna pale yellow, scape and pedicel pale brown, gradually becoming darker towards apex, segments 9–10 entirely dark brown; cephalothoracic sclerite, wing pads, legs and caudal plate 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(0), 8(1), 9(0), 10(0). Forewing pad with five marginal and one dorsal pointed sectasetae; hindwing pad with two marginal pointed sectasetae and one small dorsal pointed sectaseta. Metatibiotarsus relatively long, bearing eight pointed sectasetae in three rows on outer side; tarsal arolium broadly triangular apically, 1.5 times as long as claws. Abdomen with four lateral pointed sectasetae on each side anterior to caudal plate. Caudal plate with anterior margin remote from anterior margin of extra pore fields; with five pointed sectasetae on either side laterally, a single pointed sectasetae in the middle on either side of extra pore fields dorsally, and three pointed subapical sectasetae near circumanal ring on either side dorsally. Extra pore fields forming continuous outer and inner bands, consisting of relatively small oval patches; outer band long medially, end pointing outwards. Circumanal ring small.
Host plant. Guatteria sellowiana Schltdl. (Annonaceae).
Distribution. Brazil (MG).
Derivation of name. Named after the sexual dimorphism of the species.
Comments. Within the the trematos -group, M. dimorpha sp. nov. is characterised by its sexual dimorphism. It resembles M. cabucu sp. nov. in the knob-shaped ventral process of the distal aedeagal segment. The two species differ in details of the termialia: paramere slender in M. dimorpha and massive in M. cabucu; dorsal margin of the female proctiger straight in the former and sinuate in the latter.
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 76-77, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5585.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15007669