Craspedolepta merzi Spodek & Burckhardt & Freidberg 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Spodek, Malkie
name: Burckhardt, Daniel
name: Freidberg, Amnon
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aphalaridae
Craspedolepta
Craspedolepta merzi

description: Craspedolepta merzi Spodek & Burckhardt, sp. nov.
(Figs 16‒24)
Material examined. Holotype. ♂, Israel: CN: Har Horesha, 30º36.0'N, 34º31.60'E, 17.iii.1995 (A. Freidberg) (SMNHTAU, dry mounted). Paratypes. Israel: CN: 3 ♂, 4 ♀, same as holotype but 17.iii.1995, 11.iv.2002, 6.iv.2005 (A. Freidberg) (NHMB and SMNHTAU); 2 ♂, ‘ En Mor, Nahal Hawarim, 30º50.7’N 34º46.6’E, 4.iv.2010 (A. Freidberg) (SMNHTAU, dry mounted); 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Yeroham Pond, 16.iii.1995 (B. Merz) (NHMB, dry mounted); 2 ♂, 2 ♀, Har Ramon, 17.iii.1995 (B. Merz) (SMNHTAU and NHMB, dry and slide mounted); 1 ♂, Mizpe Ramon, 17.iii.1995 (B. Merz) (NHMB, slide mounted); JD: 1 ♂, 3 ♀, Ma’on, 750‒800 m, 14.iv.2015 (A. Freidberg) (SMNHTAU); AV: 1 ♂, Timna’, 18.iii.1995 (B. Merz) (NHMB, dry mounted).
Description. Adult. Colour. Conspicuous sexual dimorphism. Male (Fig. 16) almost entirely black, dirty yellow or ochreous laterally. Antenna white to yellow; segments 9 and 10 brown. Eyes yellow to brown; ocelli orange to brown. Tip of labium black. Forewing (Fig. 21) with transparent membrane and brown veins; with scattered brown spots of uniform size, absent or very scarce in basal half, more numerous and slightly denser in apical half. Hindwing whitish. Legs pale yellow. Abdomen dark brown with pale yellow margins of sclerites. Terminalia dark brown, subgenital plate light brown basally. Younger specimens with more expanded light colour, sometimes with darker longitudinal stripes visible on dorsum of mesothorax. Female (Fig. 17) similar but with more extended yellow ochreous patches on head and thorax. Pronotum yellow with four brown dots, mesopraescutum yellow with two brown patches, mesoscutum with six longitudinal brown stripes. Forewing (Fig. 22) with scattered brown spots in apical two thirds; few to no spots in cells c+sc, r1 and cu2. Terminalia ochreous with brown patches. Younger specimens with more expanded light colour.
Structure. Head inclined at about 45° from longitudinal body axis; slightly narrower than thorax. Head and thorax shiny, surface finely punctured, with indistinct microscopic setae (not visible at 80 x magnification). Vertex (Fig. 20) flat, subtrapezoidal; evenly curved down to genae anteriorly. Antenna (Fig. 18) 10-segmented, filiform, subequal to head width, with subapical rhinarium on each of segments 4–9; segment 3 about as long as segments 4 and 5 together; segments 4–8 conical, slender at base, wide at apex, subequal in length; segments 9 and 10 subequal in length, slightly shorter than segment 8; longer terminal antennal seta about as long, shorter one about half as long as segment 10 (Fig. 19). Clypeus pyriform. Forewing (Figs 21, 22) elongate oval, apex narrowly rounded; cell m1 small; cell cu1 long; no long setae present on veins and wing membrane; surface spinules densely spaced basally, sparser and less distinct apically, not forming any patterns. Hindwing bearing 5–9 costal setae distal to costal break which are not clearly grouped. Hind leg with big metacoxa bearing a pointed meracanthus; part between base of meracanthus and trochanteral insertion straight. Female and male terminalia as in Figs 23, 24. Male proctiger with long posterior lobes which evenly taper to apex and which bear a hook at the base, ventrally. Subgenital plate, in profile, irregularly triangular, sparsely beset with short setae. Paramere, in profile, weakly curved and widening towards apex, slightly flattened apically; inner face with strongly sclerotised thumb-like process near apex along fore margin, with sclerotised rim apically and a sclerotised tooth apico-posteriorly; adjacent to thumb-like process field of tubercles irregularly arranged in oblique rows. Distal portion of aedeagus with head-like apical inflation bearing a short anterior hook and a short posterior membranous sac-like extension; sclerotised end tube of ductus ejaculatorius moderately long, sinuous. Female terminalia cuneate. Dorsal margin of proctiger almost straight, apex narrowly rounded; covered with medium long setae forming a longitudinal row in apical half, and with peg setae in apical half. Subgenital plate cuneate, ventral margin angular in middle, covered with medium long setae basally and peg setae apically.
Measurements and ratios in mm (1 ♂, 1 ♀). HW 0.56; AL 0.6; WL 1.6–1.9; WW 0.65–0.7; TL 0.4; MP 0.2; PL 0.3; AEL 0.3; FP 0.9; CR 0.3; SP 0.7; AL/HW 1.09; WL/HW 2.91–3.45; WL/WW 2.46–2.71; TL/HW 0.73; MP/ HW 0.36; FP/HW 1.64; FP/CR 3; FP/SP 1.29.
Immatures unknown.
Host plant. Unknown.
Comments. Craspedolepta merzi is unique within the West Palaearctic fauna in its conspicuous sexual colour dimorphism. A similar but less pronounced dimorphism is known in the Nearctic Craspedolepta caudata (Crawford). C. merzi is similar, and maybe closely related to C. alevtinae (Andrianova) with which it shares spotted body and forewings (though sparse) and lack of distinct surface spinules. It differs from the latter in the sexual colour dimorphism (in C. alevtineae the body colour is similar in both sexes), the paramere shape which is wider in apical half and the apical inflation of the distal segment of the aedeagus which is shorter.
Etymology. This species is named in honour of Bernhard Merz, dipterist (Muséum d’histoire naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland), who collected the type specimens.
description: Published as part of Spodek, Malkie, Burckhardt, Daniel & Freidberg, Amnon, 2017, The Psylloidea (Hemiptera) of Israel, pp. 301-345 in Zootaxa 4276 (3) on pages 310-312, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4276.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1039104