Oncopsis (Parasitades) ramanii Viraktamath & Yeshwanth & Ajaykumara 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Viraktamath, C. A.
name: Yeshwanth, H. M.
name: Ajaykumara, K. M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Cicadellidae
Oncopsis
Oncopsis ramanii

description: Oncopsis (Parasitades) ramanii sp. nov.
Figs 1A–K, 2A–I
Diagnosis. Externally resembling O. (P.) baileyi (Pruthi) but differs in the facial coloration. Male and female O. (P.) ramanii differ in coloration. Male dark brown with facial markings similar to those in female O. (P.) baileyi, round spots on frontoclypeus absent, but with transverse pale spots more extensive and placed more dorsally. Female face entirely yellowish brown without black markings. Mesonotum in male black with lateral margins narrowly yellow but in female entire mesonotum yellowish brown and sparingly sprinkled with fuscous. In O. (P.) baileyi mesonotum with basal triangles, two small round spots anterad of scutoscutellar suture, dark brown. Forewings of O. (P) ramanii hyaline compared to tawny brown forewings in O. (P.) bailey.
Description. Sexually dimorphic in color.
Male. Shining black with pale yellow markings. Crown shining black with one transverse yellow stripe on either side of median line extending on to face obliquely and reaching inner eye margin; one median yellow stripe extending on to face and fading ventrally before imaginary line across midlength of eyes; one oblique larger yellow spot on either side of median line and reaching antennal ledge laterally. Gena and upper parts of lora yellow. Pronotum shining black, anterior and lateral margins marked with yellow, a short vertical series of three angular spots on posterior margin on either side of median line whitish. Mesonotum shining black, lateral margins and apex reddish yellow. Thoracic pleura yellow with black band across midlength, sterna black. Sternite VIII with brown markings. Legs pale yellow with black bands, setae pale yellow. Forewing hyaline with prominent dark brown venation, clavus dark fuscous along claval commissure and between claval veins; claval apex fuscous, claval inner margin whitish between outer claval vein and apical spot and half way along inner apical cell; forewing apex including entire second and third apical cells and distal half of inner apical cell, fuscous.
Face shagreen, upper part slightly rugulose on crown and upper most area of face. Pronotum convex, transversely striate. Mesoscutum granulose, mesoscutellum transversely striate.
Female. Pale brown. Pronotum with posterior 0.66 spotted with brown, posterior margin pale brown interrupted by triangular vertical whitish spots (Fig. 1D). Mesonotum with basal triangles evident, with lateral half of triangles dark brown, median area of mesoscutum and mesoscutellum spotted with brown. Face reddish yellow with a few small brown spots, area around antennal base more richly spotted with brown. Thoracic sterna black. Legs reddish yellow. Forewings as in male but much paler. Structure as in male. Female sternite VII 2.3× as wide as long medially, with lateral margins slightly narrowed posteriorly in distal half, posterior margin slightly produced posteriorly with semicircular median excavation, posterior 0.75 part clothed with fine sparsely distributed setae.
Male genitalia. Pygofer uniformly pigmented except at basal 0.25 and ventroapical narrow band along ventral region, horizontal distance about 2.4× as long as height, apical margin slightly concave, posterodorsal and posteroventral angles rounded, without macrosetae and without ventral process. Subgenital plate long and narrow about 0.75× as long as ventral margin of pygofer, not pigmented, with a few hair-like setae. Style with well-developed preapical lobe, in dorsal view curved laterally near preapical lobe, apophysis almost 2× as long as portion before preapical lobe, more or less of uniform width, margins smooth, apex curved dorsally and obliquely truncate, apical margin with a few teeth. Connective elongate, more or less T-shaped with median lobe on anterior margin. Aedeagus bulky in basal half, preatrium large and slightly prolonged ventrally, shaft tubular, narrowed distally in lateral view, gonopore apical, dorsal apodeme short, dorsal connectives well-developed, each connective with two arms, shorter arm twice bent with smooth margins, longer arm more or less straight and of uniform width, bent anteriorly near apex, ventral margin prominently serrated. Segment X well-sclerotized and pigmented, without processes.
Female genitalia. Valvulae I and II thin and long, more or less straight for most part. Sculpturing on valvula I not well defined. Valvula II with toothed area confined to distal 0.25 distance, teeth well-developed arranged in two groups, basal three teeth short slightly effaced and distal three teeth prominent, distance between the two groups of teeth more than the distance occupied by each group, ventroapical margin strongly crenulate, each tooth with secondary dentition.
Measurements. Male 3.1 mm long, 2.1 mm wide across eyes. Female 4.8 mm long, 2.2 mm wide across eyes.
Material examined. HOLOTYPE ♂, INDIA: Arunachal Pradesh, Monigong, 13.vii.2022, at light, Ajaykumara K. M. (UASB). Paratype 1♀, INDIA: Arunachal Pradesh: Riga, 30.viii.2022, at light, Ajaykumara K. M. (UASB).
Etymology. The species is named after Dr. S. Ramani (Bengaluru) an eminent Entomologist in recognition of his contributions to the field of Entomology.
Remarks. O. (P.) ramanii closely resembles O. (P.) baileyi (Pruthi) from Gangtok (Sikkim, India) known only by the female sex. It differs in facial coloration as mentioned in the diagnosis. The female sternite VII in the latter species is more prolonged posteriorly compared to that in the new species. Both male and female specimens in the new species have hyaline forewings with brown to dark brown venation, whereas in O. (P.) baileyi the forewings are hyaline only in the apical area (Pruthi 1936:106).
description: Published as part of Viraktamath, C. A., Yeshwanth, H. M. & Ajaykumara, K. M., 2024, New species of the leafhopper tribes Agalliini and Macropsini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from north and northeast India with checklist of species of the tribes from the Indian subcontinent, pp. 267-282 in Zootaxa 5486 (2) on pages 269-272, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5486.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/13209921