Orosius aegypticus El-Sonbati & Wilson & Al Dhafer 2019, stat. rev.
Creators: name: El-Sonbati, Saad A.
name: Wilson, Michael R.
name: Al Dhafer, Hathal M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Orosius
Orosius aegypticus

description: Orosius aegypticus Ghauri stat. rev.
(Figs 1–4, 21–23, 33–35, 45–47)
Orosius aegypticus Ghauri, 1966: 250
Description. In addition to generic characters, the specific characters are:
Body length: 3.0 mm.
Male genitalia: Pygofer broadly rounded posteriorly, with irregular setae over posterior half (Fig. 35); valve is free to pygofer, triangular shape, articulation of valve with pygofer pointed (Fig. 46); subgenital plate with one row of macrosetae near margin, with stout membranous finger-like process on mesal edge of posterior margin (Fig. 34); style bent, inflated at base, with strong apex, very weak developed preapical lobe (Fig. 33); connective articulated with aedeagus close to U shape very reduced (Fig. 23); anal tube appendages articulated to posterodorsal margin of pygofer laterally, form end like spine, arising from base of anal tube (Fig. 45); aedeagal shafts arising from inflate base, Shafts branches extent with parallel, apices of branches slightly curved inward, lateral view with bulbous base a abruptly narrowed next to base, branches almost equal the base, with significant curve preapically, with pointed apex (Figs 21–22).
Female genitalia: female 7th sternite approximately 3 times as broad at base as long medially, with sinuous posterior margin, posterior margin with lobe with slightly median V-shape notch in middle (Fig. 47); numerous macrosetae on pygofer.
Specimens examined: Holotype ♂. EGYPT: Siwa, 12.v.1935, (J. Omer-Cooper), Armstrong College Expedition BM. 1935-354, in (BMNH), holotype ♂ bearing a determination label Orosius cellulosus Lindberg. by W. Wagner, 1955. Additional specimens: 1♂ KSA: Al Aflag, Al Naifiyah, Farshet Sheaal: 22°24.591’N, 46°35.555’E, 594m, 15. X. 2015, Light trap, H. Al Dhafer, M. Abdel-Dayem, A. El-Torky; A. El-Gharbawy, A. Soliman.
Distribution: Egypt (Ghauri, 1966), Saudi Arabia (present study).
Ecology and biology. This species considered very rare. The only two records of this species suggest that the May in Egypt and October in Saudi Arabia may be a suitable time to collect more of this species (Fig. 60) and to discover more on the ecology and biology of this species.
Diagnosis: O. aegypticus can be easily separated from all other members in the genus Orosius by: style, connective and aedeagus. Style bent, inflated at base, with strong apex, very weak developed preapical lobe (Fig. 33); connective articulated with aedeagus close to U shape very reduced (Fig. 23); aedeagal shafts arising from inflate base (Figs 21–22).
Comments. Orosius aegypticus was described by Ghauri (1966) from a single male from Egypt. While considering it a distinct species based on the aedeagus structure Ghauri considered that it might be an aberrant form of Orosius albicinctus. However, the same form of aedeagus was recorded from Pakistan (Khatri & Webb, 2010, Khatri, et al., 2011) based on a single male and was concluded to be a valid species. Female specimens were also assigned to be this species. Fletcher et al. (2016) used some of these females in their molecular analysis of Orosius in Australia. These specimens aligned to albicinctus and on this result they based their proposed synonymy of aegypticus with albicinctus. It cannot be certain that these females were conspecific with the male recorded as aegypticus. They could just have easily been albicinctus. Since we have now found male Orosius specimens in KSA that are identical with the aegypticus type we consider that the species should continue to be regarded as distinct. Clearly further molecular analysis based on males may resolve the position.
description: Published as part of El-Sonbati, Saad A., Wilson, Michael R. & Al Dhafer, Hathal M., 2019, Revision of the leafhopper genus Orosius Distant, 1918 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Opsiini) in the Arabian Peninsula with the description of a new species, pp. 37-48 in Zootaxa 4565 (1) on pages 39-43, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4565.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/2589609