Melanastera australis 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 australis

description: 25 Melanastera australis sp. nov.
(Figs 10E, 16I, 27A–F)
Type material. Holotype ♂: Brazil: PARANÁ: Antonina, Usina Parigot de Souza, S25.2518, W48.7752, 480 m, 19.vii.2017 (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #249 (UFPR; dry).
Paratypes. Brazil: PARANÁ: 1 ♂, 3 immatures, same as holotype but S25.2557, W48.7787, 720 m, 19.vii.2017, Guatteria australis (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #250(3) (MMBC, NHMB; slide, 70% ethanol; NMB-PSYLL0007742, NMB-PSYLL0007782, NMB-PSYLL0007783 [LSMelaus-31]); 1 ♀, same as but S25.2500, W48.7700, 300 m, 20.vii.2017, Guatteria australis, Atlantic forest (I. Malenovský) (MMBC; slide).— SANTA CATARINA: 2 ♂, 1 ♀, Timbó, SC-416, 4 km from Timbó, Pousada Paraíso da Pesca, S26.7716 /7800, W49.2183 /2250, 270– 380 m, 29.iv.2013, Annona dolabripetala (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #117(7) (NHMB; 70% ethanol; NMB-PSYLL0008498).
Description. Adult. Coloration. Head, genae and vertex pale brown; vertex with dark brown pattern; clypeus dark brown. Antenna orange, apices of segments 4–9 and entire segment 10 brown. Thorax brownish yellow to pale brown; mesopraescutum with dark brown patches along fore margin; mesoscutum with four broad brown longitudinal stripes, margined by rows of dark brown dots, and one or two median rows of dark brown dots. Metanotum brown, sometimes with dark brown pattern. Forewing (Fig. 16I) with brown veins and yellow membrane covered with brown dots, relatively sparse in basal third and along wing margins, very dense and often confluent otherwise; nodal line irregularly whitish. Legs pale yellow to orange, pro- and mesocoxae dark brown, metacoxa pale yellow, basal half of femora pale to dark brown, distal tarsal segment pale brown. Abdomen yellow with dark brown sclerites; terminalia dark brown.
Structure. Head, in lateral view, inclined at> 45° from longitudinal body axis. Vertex (Fig. 10E) with imbricate microsculpture and short setae. Forewing (Fig. 16I) with Rs weakly curved to fore margin apically; surface spinules present in all cells, leaving narrow to broad spinule-free stripes along the veins, forming hexagons of a single row of spinules; spinules very sparse in cell cu 2 and in basal half of cells r 1, r 2 and m 2, and absent in basal part of cell c+sc. Hindwing with 4 + 3 grouped or 7 ungrouped costal setae. Metatibia bearing 5–7 grouped apical spurs, arranged as 2–3 + 3–4, anteriorly separated by 4–5 bristles.
Terminalia (Fig. 27A–F). Male. Proctiger weakly produced posteriorly; densely covered with long setae in apical half. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, triangular; dorsal margin straight basally, curved in apical quarter; posterior margin weakly curved; with moderately long setae. Paramere lamellar, irregularly narrowing to apex; apex, in lateral view, blunt, directed upwards, in dorsal view, subacute, directed upwards and slightly inwards, lacking distinct sclerotised tooth; outer face with dense, moderately long setae in apical two thirds; inner face with dense, moderately long setae in apical two thirds and longer setae at base; posterior margin with long setae. Proximal segment of aedeagus with apical part weakly subdivided. Distal segment of aedeagus with weakly sinuate dorsal margin in basal two thirds; ventral process situated in apical third of the segment, in lateral view, short, broad, simple, truncate apically, lacking lateral lobes; in dorsal view, ventral process tongue-shaped with rounded apex, slightly broader than apical dilation; apical dilation short, in lateral view, subparallel-sided, with almost straight dorsal margin, apex irregularly rounded, base bearing small membranous angular lobe at dorsal margin; sclerotised end tube short and weakly sinuate.—Female terminalia cuneate; densely covered with setae. Dorsal margin of proctiger, in lateral view, slightly concave in apical half, apex straight, pointed; in dorsal view, apex blunt; circumanal ring, in dorsal view, distinctly cruciform. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, strongly narrowing to apex in apical half, pointed apically; in ventral view, apex blunt.
Fifth instar immature. Coloration. Yellow; antenna pale yellow to pale brown, three apical segments entirely dark brown; cephalothoracic sclerite, wing pads, legs and caudal plate brown.
Structure. Eye with one short, simple ocular seta dorsally.Antenna with following numbers of pointed sectasetae per segment: 1(0), 2(1), 3(0), 4(2), 5(0), 6(2), 7(1), 8(1), 9(0), 10(0). Forewing pad with five large marginal pointed sectasetae and 2–3 smaller sectasetae or lanceolate setae dorsally; hindwing pad with two large marginal pointed sectasetae and one smaller sectaseta dorsally. Tarsal arolium broadly triangular apically, slightly longer than claws. Abdomen with 3–4 lateral pointed sectasetae on each side anterior to caudal plate. Anterior margin of caudal plate relatively distant from anterior margin of extra pore fields; with five (2+3) pointed sectasetae on either side laterally, and 3–4 pointed sectasetae subapically, on either side of circumanal ring dorsally. Extra pore fields forming continuous outer and inner bands, consisting of moderate oval patches; outer band relatively short medially, end pointing outwards. Circumanal ring small.
Host plant. Guatteria australis A.St. -Hil. (Annonaceae); adults were also collected on Annona dolabripetala Raddi which is a possible host.
Distribution. Brazil (PR, SC).
Derivation of name. Named after its host, G. australis.
Comments. Melanastera australis sp. nov. resembles M. dimorpha sp. nov., M. guatteriae sp. nov. and M. obscura sp. nov. in the paramere shape, and M. dimorpha, M. nasuta sp. nov. and M. obscura in the forewing very light basally, contrasting with a much darker pattern in its apical two thirds. It can be separated from these species as indicated in the keys.
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 69-70, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5585.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15007669