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Citation: Catalano MI, Paradell SL, Dietrich CH (2013) First report on the leafhopper genus Balera Young (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Typhlocybinae, Alebrini) from Argentina, and description of a new species. ZooKeys 352: 1–7. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.352.6283
The genus Balera Young is reported for first time to Argentina and a new species is described, Balera floripara sp. n. Detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations of the new species and a key to males of known species are provided. Habralebra amoena is also recorded for the first time from Argentina.
El género Balera Young es registrado por primera vez para Argentina y una nueva especie es descripta, Balera floripara sp. n. Se provee de detalladas descripciones morfológicas e ilustraciones de la nueva especie, y una clave de las especies conocidas. Además Habralebra amoena se registra por primera vez para Argentina.
Auchenorrhyncha, identification, morphology, distribution
The tribe Alebrini McAtee, 1926 is represented by 34 genera (
The genus Balera Young include twelve species recorded from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela (
The genus Habralebra Young is represented by twelve species recorded from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama and Puerto Rico. Habralebra willinki Young, 1957, Habralebra trimaculata (Gillette, 1898) and Habralebra gillettei Young, 1957 were known previously from Argentina (
Here, we record Balera from Argentina for the first time based on a new species, Balera floripara, and record Habralebra amoena for the first time from Argentina.
The specimens were collected with Malaise and mercury vapor lights traps in Misiones and Jujuy provinces. For morphological study of the genital structures, clearing was accomplished by immersion of the entire abdomen in a solution of 10% KOH at room temperature for several hours followed by several rinses with water. For illustration, genital structures were embedded in glycerin. The color pattern here described is the post-mortem coloration. In living or recently collected individuals the coloration may be more vivid relative to that of old preserved specimens. Morphological terminology follows
http://species-id.net/wiki/Balera
The genus Balera can be distinguished by the following combination of characters: forewing with appendix not extending around wing apex; hindwing with submarginal vein distinct and free from apical wing margin; male sternal abdominal apodemes slender and elongate, usually capitate apically; pygofer produced posteriorly, occasionally forming an apical process; subgenital plates with single or double row of weak macrosetae; style sigmoid in lateral aspect; connective V or Y-shaped or triangular; aedeagus shaft with one or two pairs of apical or anteapical processes.
1 | Aedeagus without long, paired distal processes, with short lobes or keels, or apex bifurcate | 2 |
1' | Aedeagus with one or more pairs of slender distal processes longer than shaft width | 5 |
2(1) | Aedeagus inflated, shaft keeled laterally, with 3 apical lobes ( |
Balera pellucida (Osborn) |
2' | Aedeagus not inflated, shaft with or without keels, without apical lobes | 3 |
3 (2) | Aedeagus bifurcated distally | 4 |
3' | Aedeagus not bifurcated, with pair of lateral keels on apical half ( |
Balera pusilla Young |
4 (3) | Pygofer without apical process; aedeagus with long bifurcated apex ( |
Balera bracata Ruppel |
4' | Pygofer with short apical process; aedeagus with short bifurcated apex (Figs 2B, F, G) | Balera floripara sp. n. |
5 (1') | Aedeagus with one pair of apical processes | 6 |
5' | Aedeagus with two or more pairs of apical processes | 11 |
6 (5) | Style with acute apex | 7 |
6' | Style with truncate apex ( |
Balera obtusa Freytag |
7 (6) | Apices of aedeagal processes convergent, in ventral view, near stem base ( |
Balera napoensis Freytag |
7' | Apices of aedeagal processes not convergent | 8 |
8 (7') | Apex of aedeagus narrow and pointed in ventral view | 9 |
8' | Apex of aedeagus not pointed in ventral view | 10 |
9 (8) | Style slightly angled at midlength; pygofer long, with posterior margin produced, narrowly rounded ( |
Balera plagata Freytag |
9' | Style strongly angled at midlength; pygofer broad, with posterior margin weakly produced ( |
Balera ecuadora Freytag |
10 (8') | Posterior margin of pygofer broadly rounded ( |
Balera caraguatae Young |
10' | Posterior margin of pygofer with acuminate process ( |
Balera signata Dworakowska |
11 (5') | Aedeagus with two pairs of apical processes | 12 |
11' | Aedeagus with three pairs of apical processes ( |
Balera fiuzai Coelho, Nessimian, Da-Silva |
12 (11) | Dorsoapical pair of aedeagal processes longer than ventral pair ( |
Balera myersi Freytag |
12' | Dorsoapical pair of aedeagal processes approximately same length as ventral pair ( |
Balera emarginata (Osborn) |
http://zoobank.org/E1AEF78C-AD35-462C-9CE3-20FA2A0DE2A3
http://species-id.net/wiki/Balera_floripara
Figs 1A, 2A–GLength of male 3.7–3.8 mm. Ground color pale-yellow; crown, pronotum and scutellum with yellow markings; forewing with longitudinal yellow stripes on clavus and along CuA in corium, apical tip of clavus dark brown, with brown markings on bases of apical cells and apices of anteapical cells arranged in radial pattern (Fig. 1A).
Dorsal habitus. A Balera floripara sp. n. B Habralebra amoena. Scale = 1 mm.
Male: First sternal apodemes (1S) (Fig. 2A) enlarged with apices overlapping. Second sternal apodemes (2S) (Fig. 2A) slender and elongate, reaching sixth segment, apices capitate. Pygofer (Fig. 2B) with posterior margin produced, with short, acute apical process directed dorsad and row of very long, thin setae on postero-ventral margin. Subgenital plate (Fig. 2C), in lateral view, with basal half strongly tapered, apical half with margin parallel through most of length, apex with a small spine slightly curved; basal half with several long macrosetae irregularly arranged and row of moderately long, slender microsetae on dorsal margin, apical half with medial row of short, stout setae. Style (Fig. 2D), in lateral view, sigmoid with three preapical setae. Connective (Fig. 2E) triangular. Aedeagus (Figs 2F–G) with preatrium nearly as long as shaft, dorsal apodeme compressed, racket-shaped in lateral view, incompletely fused to shaft; shaft short and broad, apex bifurcate, without processes; gonopore apical.
Balera floripara sp. n. Male (A–G) A sternal apodeme 1S and 2S B pygofer, lateral view C subgenital plate D style E connective F aedeagus in lateral view G aedeagus in posterior view.
Holotype male, ARGENTINA: Jujuy, P.N. Calilegua 1600m 23°41'1"S, 64°54'0"W, 14–16 January 2008 Dietrich et al col. Malaise trap [MLP]. Paratypes: 2 males, same data as holotype [INHS].
The specific name refers to the arrangement of the five dark markings on the forewing arranged radially in the form of a flower.
This species closely resembles Balera bracata but has a short process on the pygofer and the aedeagus is wider with the apical bifurcation shorter.
http://species-id.net/wiki/Habralebra_amoena
Fig. 1BBrazil. New record from Argentina, Misiones.
4 males and 1 female, ARGENTINA: Misiones, Puerto Iguazú 200m 25°37'19"S, 54°32'52"W, 7 January 2008 Dietrich col. hand collected at night [2 males and 1 female in MLP, 2 males in the INHS].
This research was supported in part by U.S. National Science Foundation grants DEB 0529679 and 0715499 (to CHD), CONICET and CIC (Argentina).