Notes on Neotropical Proconiini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae): VII: First detailed description of the female genitalia of a Diestostemma species

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Diestostemma Amyot & Serville, 1843 is a diverse sharpshooter genus with 32 species. A description and illustrations of Diestostemma nasutum Schmidt, 1910 are provided. The species, previously known from Ecuador, is newly recorded from Colombia. Both the male and female genitalia are described for the first time. This is the first detailed description of the female genitalia of a Diestostemma species. Diestostemma nasutum can be distinguished from the other species of the genus by the following features of the aedeagus: shaft with the distal third distinctly curved dorsally; base of basiventral aedeagal process with a lobe directed anteriorly; and basiventral aedeagal process bifurcated on its basal portion. The style of D. nasutum, whose apical portion is broad, distinctly curved inward, and with the apex subtruncate, is also quite distinctive. We compared the female genitalia of D. nasutum with those of other Proconiini genera. Our results confirm the perception that the female genitalia in this tribe can be a source of useful taxonomic characters.

Description of a new, unusual species of Diestostemma Amyot & Serville (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae) from Ecuador

“…Wilson et al (2009) provided high resolution images of 31 of the 32 species described at the time. Mejdalani and Silva (2010) provided the first detailed description of the female terminalia of a Diestostemma species. Most recently, Pinto et al (2017) revised the D. bituberculatum (Signoret) complex, which all have two dorsally directed protrusions on the pronotum.…”

Description of the female terminalia of twenty species of Proconiini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from Argentina

“…When there are no males available, genus and species identification becomes difficult (Mejdalani 1998). Differences in female terminalia at species level have been reported in several studies, suggesting the value of this source of characters, at least, to species identification (Nielson 1965;Mejdalani 1998;Mejdalani & Da Silva 2010).…”

On the female of Gypona reversa DeLong & Martinson, 1972, with emphasis on genital structures (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

“…As for the female genitalia, only the sternite VII was described. In view of recent studies that emphasize the importance of female genital structures in Cicadellidae (e.g., Rodriguez and Mejdalani 2009, Mejdalani and Silva 2010, Mejdalani and Cavichioli 2013, Domahovski et al 2014), we herein give a detailed redescription of the female of G. reversa .…”