First report on the leafhopper genus Balera Young (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Typhlocybinae, Alebrini) from Argentina, and description of a new species

Abstract 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.

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.

Materials and methods
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 Young (1952) and Dietrich (2005) for habitus and genitalia characters. Digital photographs were taken using a QImaging Micropublisher 3.3 digital camera mounted on an Olympus SZX12 stereomicroscope. The type-series of the new species are deposited in the entomological collections of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de La Plata, Argentina (MLP) and the Illinois Natural History Survey, USA (INHS).
Diagnosis. 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. Apices of aedeagal processes convergent, in ventral view, near stem base (Freytag 1992, fig. 17 Style slightly angled at midlength; pygofer long, with posterior margin produced, narrowly rounded (Freytag 1992, fig. 23, 24) ...... B. plagata Freytag 9'
Etymology. The specific name refers to the arrangement of the five dark markings on the forewing arranged radially in the form of a flower.
Note. This species closely resembles B. bracata but has a short process on the pygofer and the aedeagus is wider with the apical bifurcation shorter.