Microledrida asperata Fowler 1904
Creators: name: Haas, Matthé Cornelis De
name: Bartlett, Charles R.
name: Hendrix, Solomon V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cixiidae
Microledrida
Microledrida asperata

description: Microledrida asperata Fowler, 1904
(Figs. 10, 11)
Material examined. Lectotype: Chilpancingo, / Guerrero, / 4600 ft / Aug. H.H. Smith // ♂ // B.C.A. Homopt.I. / Macroledrida [sic] / asperata, Fowl. // Microledrida / asperata / Fowler TYPE ♂ [handwritten] // LECTOTYPE ♂ / Microledrira / asperata Fowler / By J.P. Kramer // NHMUK015981666 [2D barcode label] (1♂, BMNH).
Additional material: (“True Asperata or N.Sp.” [handwritten label by Kramer]): Mexico, Morales, Cuernavaca, 25.IX.1945, JS Caldwell Collection 1959, UDCC _ TCN 00102990 (1♂, USNM); Durango, Tlahualilo [de Zaragoza], 4.IX.1928, P.A. Glick, 10 ft. alt, M57, UDCC_TCN 00102997 (1♂, USNM, Det. P.W. Oman); same except 13.IX.1928, 3,000 ft alt. UDCC_TCN 00102996 (1♂, USNM); Campeche, Campeche, 14.VII.1959, NLH Krauss (1♀, USNM). (“asperata of Cald[well],” [handwritten label by Kramer]); Mexico, Sonora, Hacienda Nainari, 10.VIII.27, M.B. 244, JS Caldwell Collection 1959, AMNH_IZN 00300686 [2D barcode] (1♂, USNM); same except 19.III.27, M.B. 209, AMNH_IZN 00300685 (1♂, USNM); Durango, Tlahualilo [de Zaragoza], 13.IX.1928, P.A. Glick, 500 ft. alt, M157, AMNH_IZN 00300684 [2D barcode] (11♀, USNM).
Identification. Kramer (1983).
Distribution. Mexico (Campeche, Durango, Guerrero, Morales, Sonora).
Remarks. Microledrida asperata was described from an unspecified number of specimens from Chilpancingo in Guerrero, Mexico. The terminalia were subsequently illustrated by Kramer (1983, figs. 49-51), who designated a lectotype. Kramer (1983) studied M. asperata to clarify the identity of the species and determine whether it occurred in the U.S. Kramer (1983) also studied additional specimens of M. asperata but did not report the locality data. Among these, he informally grouped the specimens into two forms. The typical form (Figs 10-11; those matching the lectotype designated and illustrated in Kramer 1983) appears from the available material to be primarily continental, while the aberrant form is known from a specimen collected on Isla Maria Magdalena, Nayarit, Mexico (referred to here as the ‘insular form’).
The insular form primarily differs from the typical form in features of the male terminalia. In the insular form, the medioventral process of the pygofer is acutely pointed (as opposed to obtusely rounded) and the subapical process of the phallotheca is bifurcate (as opposed to undivided). Additionally, the phallothecal and endosomal processes of the two forms differ notably in length, though their position is overall consistent. The insular form differs in external habitus from the typical form in that the upper half of the frons bears a dark brown band (as opposed to being entirely yellow), the mesonotum is medio-anteriorly fuscous within the lateral carinae (as opposed to relatively pallid with two sublateral dark spots), and the forewings are nearly immaculate (in contrast with dark markings near the base of the wing). These differences are worth further examination to ascertain whether or not the insular form is an example of intraspecific variation or a new species of Microledrida.
description: Published as part of Haas, Matthé Cornelis De, Bartlett, Charles R. & Hendrix, Solomon V., 2025, A new species of Microledrida Fowler from Curaçao (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae), pp. 174-192 in Zootaxa 5609 (2) on pages 183-184, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5609.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/15215034