Petalocephala nauniensis VIRAKTAMATH, WEBB & YESHWANTH, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: VIRAKTAMATH, C. A.
name: WEBB, M. D.
name: YESHWANTH, H. M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Petalocephala
Petalocephala nauniensis

description: Petalocephala nauniensis sp. nov.
Figs 8 AB, 18G, 29A–G.
Diagnosis. Externally resembling Yelahanka granulosa (Distant), however, forewing claval veins separate, not fused or connected with cross vein. Male pygofer triangular, narrowed posteriorly and posteriorly conically rounded, ventral process blade-like, pointed apically with dorsal convexly rounded lobe subapically. Style apex ventrally directed, apically slightly widened. Aedeagus without preatrium and well-developed dorsal apodeme, shaft long slightly curved dorsally in proximal half then straight, apex rounded and membranous gonopore indistinct, with one pair of ventrolateral subapical horn-like processes directed in same direction as shaft and exceeding its apex.
Description. Green, outer claval vein brown. Crown as in Yelahanka granulosa, half as long medially as interocular distance, 0.8× as long as median length of pronotum, punctate, lateral margins straight but slightly convergent to a length of about 0.6 crown length then mesally convergent, apex obtusely angled. Ocelli about as close to each other as to the adjacent eye. Pronotum with disc rugose punctate rest punctate, 2.4× as wide as long medially, lateral margins posteriorly divergent distance between posterolateral angles 1.2× greater than distance between anterolateral angles, anterior margin slightly convex and posterior margin medially concave. Mesonotum about as long as median length of pronotum. Forewing with outer claval veins separate, neither fused nor connected by cross vein, outer claval vein ridge-like, subapical and apical cells with number of accessory cross veins dividing them into smaller cells.
Male genitalia. Male pygofer triangular, 1.5× as long laterally as height, narrowed posteriorly and posteriorly conically rounded, ventral process blade-like, pointed apically with dorsal convexly rounded lobe subapically. Style with short anterior apodeme (about 0.33× as long as style), More or less broad throughout length, and narrowed subapically and apex ventrally directed with slightly constricted base and then flared apical rounded lobe. Aedeagus without preatrium and well-developed dorsal apodeme about 0.36 as long as shaft, shaft long slightly curved dorsally in proximal half then straight, apex slightly widened and rounded, membranous, with one pair of ventrolateral subapical horn-like processes directed in the same direction as shaft and exceeding its apex, gonopore indistinct.
Female not known.
Measurements. Male 8.6 mm long, 2.6 mm wide across eyes and 3.0 mm wide across posterolateral angles of pronotum.
Material examined. HOLOTYPE ♂, INDIA: Himachal Pradesh, Nauni, 3.vii.2016, Rajgopal, N.N. (NPC).
Etymology. The species is named after the type locality (Nauni) where the holotype specimen was collected.
Remarks. P. nauniensis sp. nov. has similar aedeagus and style as in P. balehonnurensis but has much shorter crown and more densely punctate head and thorax compared to the latter species. P. chlorocephala and P. nigrilinea (see below) also have apical horn-like processes on the aedeagal shaft but differ from P. nauniensis in the shape of the pygofer process and curvature of the aedeagal shaft.
description: Published as part of VIRAKTAMATH, C. A., WEBB, M. D. & YESHWANTH, H. M., 2025, Leafhopper subfamily Ledrinae of the Indian subcontinent: 2. Genera Digitata Wang, Li & Dai, Latycephala McKamey, Petalocephala Stål and Thlasia Germar (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) with description of six new species, pp. 1-71 in Zootaxa 5623 (1) on page 19, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5623.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15324666