Orientafroinsularis Sanborn 2021, n. gen.
Creators: name: Sanborn, Allen F.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadidae
Orientafroinsularis

description: Orientafroinsularis n. gen.
Type species.— Cicada pulverulenta Distant 1905b: 199. (Madagascar and Seychelles)
Species included.— Orientafroinsularis elenae (Boulard, 2001) n. comb., rev. stat., Orientafroinsularis hova (Distant, 1905b) n. comb., Orientafroinsularis loici (Boulard, 2000) n. comb., Orientafroinsularis martini (Distant, 1905b) n. comb., Orientafroinsularis matilei (Boulard, 2000) n. comb., Orientafroinsularis nigrans (Distant, 1904c) n. comb., Orientafroinsularis pulverulenta (Distant, 1905b) n. comb., rev. stat., Orientafroinsularis seychellensis (Boulard, 1999) n. comb., rev. stat., and Orientafroinsularis seychellica (Dmitriev, 2020) n. comb., rev. stat.
Remarks.—The new genus is proposed for species previously classified as species of Chremistica from the islands east of Africa, specifically Madagascar and the Republic of Seychelles. This is the group of species that Bregman (1985) called the martini group of the genus Chremistica. He distinguished the group by the infuscation of the fore wings, the long uncus and the very long aedeagus. Marshall et al. (2018b) showed the Madagascar species of Chremistica were not part of the clade with the Asian species of the genus. The differences outline here, particularly in the genitalia, support separate clades and genera for the two groups.
While reviewing the species of the proposed genus, it was determined that the previously described subspecies represented distinct species. Boulard (1999; 2001) proposed two subspecies of Chremistica pulverulenta (Distant, 1905b) for the two populations from Madagascar and Seychelles that Distant (1905b) included in his new taxon. Boulard (1999) identified the two populations as the subspecies Antankaria pulverulenta madegassa Boulard, 1999 and Antankaria pulverulenta seychellensis Boulard, 1999. Boulard (2001) then again renamed the populations as new subspecies including different names, Chremistica pulverulenta madagascariensis Boulard, 2001 and Chremistica pulverulenta seychellensis Boulard, 2001. However, Article 46.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999) establishes a species and subspecies simultaneously so the nominotypical species should have been Chremistica pulverulenta pulverulenta (Distant, 1905b) for one population as Distant (1905b) included examples from both Madagascar and Seychelles in the type series. Because Boulard (2001) specifically redescribed Distant’s species using specimens from Madagascar, including designating a lectotype from Distant’s Madagascar specimen in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Chremistica pulverulenta madagascariensis Boulard, 2001 n. syn. is a subjective synonym of Orientafroinsularis pulverulenta (Distant, 1905b) n. comb. This action eliminates the potential homonym based on “madagascariensis” under Articles 53.3, 57.2, and 57.3 with Boulard’s (2001) species. Similarly, Antankaria pulverulenta madegassa Boulard, 1999 n. syn. is also considered a synonym of Orientafroinsularis pulverulenta (Distant, 1905b) n. comb. because the song illustrated by Boulard (1999) for this subspecies is similar to the terminal portion of the song illustrated for Chremistica pulverulenta madagascariensis Boulard, 2001 n. syn. in Boulard (2001).
Boulard (2001) illustrated differences in the male genitalia, particularly the shape of the distal pygofer shoulder, lateral uncus lobes, significant pile radiating from the uncus, basal pygofer lobes and aedeagus along with differences in the fore wing infuscation pattern, the shape of the male opercula and the proportionately wider body and larger timbal covers of the species illustrated from the Seychelles that are confirmed in specimens available to the author. Boulard (1999; 2001) also illustrated the calling song of his proposed subspecies. The songs have very distinct temporal patterns and are significantly different from one another. These identified morphological and acoustic differences combined with the reproductive isolation of the two populations suggest they are distinct species rather than subspecies.
The subspecies from the Seychelles is introduced as Antankaria pulverulenta sechellensis (sic) Boulard, 1999. Boulard (1999) also used the spelling Antankaria pulverulenta seychellensis earlier in the paper where a list of species discussed within the paper was provided. Boulard (2001) identified the taxon as a new subspecies a second time, this time in a different genus, as Chremistica pulverulenta seychellensis Boulard, 2001. As a result, the spelling “sechellensis” is considered an inadvertent error under Article 32.5.1 with the spelling considered corrected to “seychellensis” under Article 24.2.4 by Boulard (2001) as the first reviser. Chremistica pulverulenta seychellensis Boulard, 2001 n. syn. is considered a synonymic homonym of Antankaria pulverulenta seychellensis Boulard, 1999. Based on the morphological and acoustic differences in the Seychelles population, Chremistica pulverulenta seychellensis (Boulard, 1999) is elevated to species rank and reassigned to the new genus to become Orientafroinsularis seychellensis (Boulard, 1999) n. comb., rev. stat.
The taxon Chremistica elenae Boulard, 2001 has additional taxonomic issues. Boulard (2001) identified a new species the new species Chremistica elenae without a description or type material followed by the description of two subspecies. The taxon Chremistica elenae madagascariensis Boulard, 2001 is listed as “n. sp., n. ssp.” in the original publication while Chremistica elenae seychellensis Boulard, 2001 is listed as only “n. ssp.” suggesting simultaneous description of the new species and new subspecies. The holotype can, therefore, be applied to both the species and subspecies. Chremistica elenae madagascariensis Boulard, 2001 is then a subjective synonym of Chremistica elenae elenae Boulard, 2001 and Chremistica elenae Boulard, 2001 becomes an available taxon. In order to conserve nomenclature stability, Chremistica elenae madagascariensis Boulard, 2001 n. syn. is synonymized to Chremistica elenae elenae Boulard, 2001 since there is then a type series and description for Chremistica elenae elenae Boulard, 2001 making it an available name. The various spellings of the taxa in the original publication were fixed by first reviser action in Sanborn (2013).
Dmitriev (2020) addressed the primary homonym of Chremistica elenae seychellensis Boulard, 2001 and Chremistica pulverulenta seychellensis Boulard, 2001 providing a new name for the subspecies Chremistica elenae seychellica Dmitriev, 2020 nom. nov. pro Chremistica elenae seychellensis Boulard, 2001: 136 nec Chremistica pulverulenta seychellensis Boulard, 2001: 133.
Again, Boulard (2001) illustrated morphological differences in the male genitalia, including the shape of the distal pygofer shoulder, dorsal beak, lateral uncus lobes, basal pygofer lobes and aedeagus and illustrates differences in the calling song of the proposed subspecies. The songs have very distinct temporal patterns and the dominant frequency of the calls differ from one another by about 2 kHz (Boulard 2001). The morphological and acoustic differences combined with the reproductive isolation of the two populations suggest these unavailable taxa represent two distinct species rather than subspecies.
The previous subspecies are elevated to species rank here based on the morphological and acoustic differences. Boulard’s (2001) subspecies are here reassigned to Orientafroinsularis elenae (Boulard, 2001) n. comb., rev. stat. for the Madagascar specimens and Orientafroinsularis seychellica (Dmitriev, 2020) n. comb., rev. stat. for the Seychelles specimens.
Etymology.—The name is a combination of Orient – (L. oriens, east), – afro –, and – insularis (L. insularis, of an island) in reference to the distribution of the species on the islands east of continental Africa. The genus is feminine.
Description
Medium sized cicada (body length about 20–35 mm, wingspan about 55–104 mm), generally pilose. Head wider than mesonotum, head and postclypeus triangular, apex smoothly curved, extending beyond supra-antennal plates, eyes wider than anterior pronotal collar, vertex at area of ocelli shorter than frons, epicranial suture deep and narrow between lateral ocelli, lateral ocelli closer to each other than to eyes, higher than median ocellus in frontal view, lateral vertex narrower than eye, supra-antennal plate reaching about half distance to eye, obtusely angled with anterior postclypeus margin, dorsal postclypeus not as long as dorsal vertex, postclypeus convex on ventral side, smoothly arching from supra-antennal plate when viewed from dorsal side, medial transverse ridges separated but not centrally sulcate, elevated glabrous region on anterior ventral side often extending around apex, rostrum reaching posterior coxae or trochanters. Pronotum shorter than mesonotum, lateral angles of pronotal collar ampliate, lateral part of pronotal collar narrowing anteriorly and angled ventrally from lateral angle. Mesonotum covering dorsal metanotum, metanotum extends laterally beyond wing groove, cruciform elevation smoothly arched or obtusely angled posteriorly. Fore femora with three spines, primary spine longest, angled to femur axis, secondary spine intermediate in length, triangular, slightly angled, and small, triangular tertiary spine parallel to primary spine, tarsi three-segmented, meracanthus triangular generally curved mediad, extending over anterior male operculum or to middle of female sternite II. Male operculum completely encapsulating meracanthus, with smoothly curved posterior margins, domed posterolateral to meracanthus, covering elongated tympanal cavity, extending to anterior of proportionately long sternite II, lateral margin straight, medial margins may be curved or parallel, may overlap, meet or be separated medially. Female operculum approximately rectangular, posterior margin sinuate, not reaching medial meracanthus or posterior sternite II. Fore wings and hind wing hyaline, fore wings and hind wing with eight and six apical cells respectively, infuscation on radial and radiomedial crossveins and distal veins between apical cells, fore wings about 2.95–3.45X longer than broad. Fore wing basal cell longer than broad, fore wing cubitus anterior straight at base, base of median and cubitus anterior veins arising separately from basal cell, radius anterior and radius posterior arise from same location on node, radial and radiomedial crossveins slightly sinuate, parallel or almost parallel. Abdomen longer than distance between apex of head and posterior of cruciform elevation, lateral margins straight at base, abdomen begins narrowing posteriorly to genitalia at tergite 4 or 5, second abdominal segment proportionately longer than other segments producing elongated tympanal cavity ventrally. Timbal cover slightly inflated laterally, completely covering timbal, reaching metathorax anteriorly with anterior margin recurving, timbal extending below wing base, tympana concealed by opercula. Male sternite VIII U-shaped when viewed from posterior with transverse posterior margin. Female sternite VII with curved posterolateral margin and single V-shaped medial notch. Pygofer distal shoulder smoothly curved with dorsally oriented point, dorsal beak broadly triangular, curved ventrally, pygofer upper lobe absent, pygofer basal lobe well-developed extending about half pygofer length, adpressed to pygofer, lateral uncus lobes broad at base with narrow terminal extension, distally arching and curving mediad to form a canal to restrain aedeagus at apex, claspers absent, male aedeagus tubular with expanded terminal membrane and single vesicle process, restrained by medial extensions of uncus near its base. Female abdominal segment 9 with dorsal beak, posterior margin sinuate, ovipositor sheath extends beyond dorsal beak.
Measurements (mm).—Length of body: 20.0–35.0; length of fore wing: 26.0–45.5; width of fore wing: 7.5– 16.0; length of head: 3.3–6.5; width of head including eyes: 7.5–15.0; width of pronotum including suprahumeral plates: 7.4–13.4; width of mesonotum: 6.3–13.5.
Diagnosis.—The species of Orientafroinsularis n. gen. can be quickly distinguished from species of Chremistica by the pygofer distal shoulder curving to produce a dorsal point on either side of the base of the dorsal beak in species of the new genus. In addition, the uncus of species of Chremistica generally terminates in a much larger extension without a terminal bifurcation, the lateral branches of the uncus lack the broad base of the new genus and may have finger-like extensions, the pygofer basal lobes are more lobate, separated from the pygofer margin, and often curving mediad or concealed by the lateral pygofer margin recurving mediad, the aedeagus lacks the terminal membrane, the head is more triangular, the eyes do not extend laterally beyond the anterior lateral pronotal collar, the pronotal collar is proportionately wider, the anterior terminus of the lateral pronotal collar is reflexed dorsally, the posterior cruciform elevation has a shallow smooth curved, the lateral margins of the abdomen are generally parallel, and female sternite VII has a very wide notch,
The only other genus currently assigned to the tribe is Antankaria. The oblong eyes and the lack of an expanded lateral supra-antennal plate on the anterior margin of the head species of the new genus quickly distinguish species of Orientafroinsularis n. gen. from the only known species of Antankaria.
Distribution.—The species of the genus Orientafroinsularis n. gen. have been reported from Madagascar and the Republic of Seychelles (Metcalf 1963a; Duffels & van der Laan 1985; Sanborn 2013).
description: Published as part of Sanborn, Allen F., 2021, The cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of Madagascar including a new tribe, five new genera, twelve new species, four new species synonymies, five revised species status, ten new combinations, new tribal assignments for four genera, one new subtribe synonymy, a checklist and key to the species, pp. 1-79 in Zootaxa 4937 (1) on pages 22-24, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4937.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4559438