Cixidia maroccana Anufriev 1969
Creators: name: Haas, Matthé Cornelis de
name: Valkenburg, Thijs
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Achilidae
Cixidia
Cixidia maroccana

description: Cixidia maroccana Anufriev, 1969 (Figs. 2-4)
PORTUGAL: Évora: Campinho (38.364, -7.471), 12.IV.2023, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. A. Gosseries. Faro: Figueira – Vila do Bispo (37.069. -8.836), 3.V.2019, 1♀, leg. C.F.M. den Bieman; Portimão (37.127, -8.575), 20.III.2021, 1♀, leg. T. Valkenburg; Quinta de Marim - Olhão (37.033, -7.815), 3.IV.2021, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. T. Valkenburg; Albufeira (37.089, -8.241), 14.IV.2021, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. S. Arȧjo; Quinta de Marim - Olhão (37.033, -7.815), 27.IV.2021, 2♀♀, leg. T. Valkenburg; Olhão (37.033, -7.817), collected on 26.II.2023 as 3 nymphs and reared till 15.III.2023 too 1♂, 1 ♀ and 1 nymph put in ethanol, leg. T. Valkenburg; Ameixial - Loulé (37.364, -7.990), 16.IV.2023, 1♂, 1 ♀, leg. T. Valkenburg; Quinta de Marim - Olhão (37.177, - 8.464), 22-23.IV.2023, 1♂, 2 ♀♀, leg. T. Valkenburg; Quinta de Marim - Olhão (37.033, -7.815), 25.III.2023, 2♂♂, 2 ♀♀, leg. T. Valkenburg; Fonte da Tareja – São Brás de Alportel (37.180, - 7.883), 25.IV.2023, 1♂, leg. T. Valkenburg; Fonte da Tareja – São Brás de Alportel (37.180, - 7.883), 26.IV.2023, 1♀, leg. T. Valkenburg. Santarém: Samora Correia (38.915, -8.861), 1.IV.2021, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. R. GonÇalves. Seṫbal: Santa Margarida da Serra (38.108, - 8.570), 18.IV.2023, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. J. Miguel.
SPAIN: Almería: El Daimuz (37.496, -2.249), 29.V.2022, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. photosteve. Cáceres: Cáceres - near camping (39.491, -6.140), 440m, 1♀, leg. C.F.M. den Bieman. Granada: Órgiva – near río Guadalfeo (36.887, -3.414), 340 m, 9.V.2018, 1♂, leg. C.F.M. den Bieman; Yegen (36.983, -3.118), 15.V.2020, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. S. Oliver; Yegen (36.977, -3.121), 16.V.2022, 1 adult, 1 nymph, photo on iNaturalist, leg. S. Oliver. Málaga: Antequera (37.014, -4.554), 26.VI.2020, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. S. Vogel. Sevilla: Molino de Gadea (37.542, -5.396), 16.IV.2021, 1 adult, photo on iNaturalist, leg. A. Manuel.
Distribution: The species was described by Anufriev (1969) from a single male, collected in Morocco without a specific location. Asche (2015) only studied the male holotype of this species and no additional material was available. The species appears to be not uncommon along the southern coastline of Portugal and in southern Spain.
Ecology: Nothing has been published about the ecology of this species. All records published here were done between the [15th of March (=reared specimens)] 20th of March and the end of May, suggesting that C. maroccana is an univoltine species. Nymphs have been found in February, suggesting that the species hibernates in the nymphal stage. Three nymphs were collected by the second author on the 26th of February 2023 and put in a jar till two adults appeared on the 15th of March. During this period, nymphs were kept indoors, which might have resulted in a faster development. The nymphs were found deep in a pile of dead plants and branches which were rotting and covered with mycelium. Adults were usually found in shaded places in a variety of habitats: coastal pine forest, cork oak and holm oak landscape on shale soils and in old carob and olive groves on limestone soils. Based on these findings, habitat preferences seem to be limited as long as (old) trees and rotting material with mycelium are present.
Identification: The species can be identified with the original description or the redescription by Asche (2015).
description: Published as part of Haas, Matthé Cornelis de & Valkenburg, Thijs, 2024, First records of Cixidia maroccana Anufriev, 1969 from the Iberian Peninsula and some additional new records of Achilidae St ṏl, 1839 (Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoromorpha), pp. 141-146 in Arquivos Entomolóxicos 28 on pages 142-143, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12813173