Pravistylus scolopygeus Stiller 2010, sp. n.
Creators: name: Stiller, M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Pravistylus
Pravistylus scolopygeus

description: Pravistylus scolopygeus sp. n.   
(Figs 1 af; 2 l; 3 w; 4 u; 5 h; 6 v; 7 bw–by; 8 bf)  
 Diagnosis. Plate 1.7–1.9 times as long as wide; deeply notched subbasally; apices unequal in length, narrow, blunt (Fig. 2 l); plate similar to that of P. longitrunculus (Fig. 2 k). Pygofer lobe with sclerotized appendage on median surface (Fig. 1 af). Aedeagus, in dorsal view, with base of shaft depressed, tapering towards apex (Figs 3 w, 4 u). Style with distal part close to base; apophysis very narrow (Fig. 5 h). Female sternite 7 ligula with triangular or rectangular ligula, base rectangular (Figs 7 bw–by).   
 Etymology. Greek, for the thorn-like (skolos) spine on the pygofer (pyge).   
 Male and female. Ochraceous, sometimes with minor fuscous markings on vertex, generally with fuscous markings in inner anteapical, posterior discal and brachial cells (Fig. 8 bf).   
 Male. Dimensions. (n = 16) Length: apex of vertex to apex of tegmina 2.4–2.8 mm; apex of vertex to apex of abdomen 2.7–3.1 mm; vertex medially 0.5 mm; vertex next to eye 0.3–0.4 mm; pronotum medially 0.3–0.4 mm. Width: head 0.9–1.0 mm; pronotum 0.8–0.9 mm. Ocellar diameter 28.0 µm; ocellocular distance 32.8–51.2 µm.   
 Genital capsule. Pygofer, in lateral view, with ventral posterior margin bulbous, membranous; dorsal posterior margin lobate (Fig. 1 af). Pygofer lobe subapical, short, with medial spine-like process, curved ventrally (Fig 1 af); width of lobe about ¾ as wide as width of pygofer (Fig. 1 af). Plate roughly triangular; subbasal lateral margin emarginate, tufts of setae distally and proximally of emargination; apex sclerotized, narrow, rounded or truncate; both apices usually of dissimilar length; 3–8 uniseriate subapical macrosetae (Fig. 2 l); plate 1.7–1.9 times as long as wide. Aedeagal shaft, lateral view, arising medially from atrium; preatrium short; C-shaped; dorsal view, tapering toward apex, depressed; gonopore ventral, elongate, extending from apex into about one third of shaft (Figs 3 w, 4 u). Style distal part close to anterior medial lobe; apophysis elongate, curved, narrow with large basal, ventral tooth; preapical lobe acute (Fig. 5 h). Connective, in lateral view, with distal half slightly angled dorsad; dorsal view, stem narrow, rounded (Fig. 6 v).   
 Female. Dimensions. (n = 11) Length: apex of vertex to apex of tegmina 2.4–2.9 mm; apex of vertex to apex of abdomen 3.0– 3.4 mm; vertex medially 0.5–0.6 mm; vertex next to eye 0.3–0.4 mm; pronotum medially 0.3–0.4 mm. Width: head 0.9–1.0 mm; pronotum 0.8–0.9 mm. Ocellar diameter 26.5–30.7 µm; ocellocular distance 35.7–50.8 µm.   
 Genitalia. Sternite 7 with base rectangular, median posterior ligula about as long as median length of base; ligula variable: triangular (Fig. 7 bw), with base triangular, apex parallel (Fig. 7 bx) or ligula rectangular (Fig. 7 by), V- or U-shaped notch; ventral surface of ligula and sternite with median ridge.   
 Material examined. Holotype male. South Africa, Mpumalanga. Suikerboschfontein Farm, 25°56ʹS, 30°19ʹE, 1700 m, 3.ii.2001, M. Stiller, sweeping, grass and forbs (SANC). Paratypes. 16♂, 12♀. Limpopo. 1♂, 1♀, Sekororo Kloof near Burgersfort, 24°23ʹ6ʺS, 30°27ʹ39ʺE, 1430 m, 19.iii.2005, M. Stiller, sweeping, very short grazed Cynodon dactylon (Poaceae) and other grass species; 2♀, Sekororo Kloof, summit, 24°22ʹ55ʺS, 30.29ʹ20ʺE, 1830 m, 19.iii.2005, M. Stiller, sweeping, steep E-facing shaded slope on summit; 5♂, 4♀, Sekororo Kloof, 24°22ʹ55ʺS, 30°29ʹ20ʺE, 1800 m, 19.iii.2005, M. Stiller, sweeping, summit ridge grazed grass and forbs; 2♂, 1♀, The Downs, near black wattle plantation, 24°10ʹ40.46ʺS, 30°12ʹ04.77ʺE, 1460 m, 25.iv.2009, M. Stiller, sweeping grass and forbs. Mpumalanga. 8♂, 4♀, same data as holotype (BMNH, INHS, SANC).   
 Remarks. The plate of this species (Fig. 2 l) is similar to that of P. longitrunculus (Fig. 2 k), with the sternite 7 of both females also depicting similarities. However the elongate process on the median surface of the pygofer lobe (Fig. 1 af) is the distinctive feature of P. scolopygeus, and is sometimes visible in undissected specimens. The pygofer lobe in P. longitrunculus (Fig. 1 p) is much longer than in P. scolopygeus (Fig. 1 af), the style has the distal part close to the base in both species with the apophysis digitate in P. longitrunculus (Fig. 5 e), but narrower in P.scolopygeus (Fig. 5 h). The aedeagal shaft is not compressed in P. longitrunculus (Figs 3 ab, 4 z), and in the connective the stem wider (Fig. 6 z) than in P. scolopygeus (Fig. 6 v). No other species has a similarly pronounced process on the pygofer lobe, except a distinctly smaller tooth in P. odontopygeus (Fig. 1 y).
description: Published as part of Stiller, M., 2010, Revision of the Southern African leafhopper genus Pravistylus (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae) 2468, pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 2468 (1) on pages 44-45, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2468.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10094177