Two new species of Balacha (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae) from Brazil with comments on their phylogenetic position and biogeography

Abstract

The sharpshooter genus Balacha Melichar, 1926 has seven recognized species and is distributed in southern South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay). Here, two new Brazilian species of this genus are described and illustrated, one (B. ancora sp. nov.) from Serra do Caraça and Serra do Cipó (Minas Gerais State) and another (B. nigroflava sp. nov.) from Ponta Grossa (Paraná State) and Passo Fundo (Rio Grande do Sul State). Based on 67 morphological characters, we carried out a parsimony analysis to estimate the phylogenetic position of the two new species. Using implied weighting in TNT, a single topology within Balacha was obtained with k values that varied from 1.599 to 7.412. In this topology, the two new taxa appeared within the clade of black Balacha species. A biogeographical analysis (S-DIVA) suggested that the ancestral area of distribution of Balacha was the Atlantic Forest domain. Balacha species were so far known to have only Eryngium (Apiaceae) species as host plants. Here we report a new host plant for the genus: B. ancora sp. nov. specimens were collected on Actinocephalus polyanthus (Eriocaulaceae). Balacha similis and B. rubripennis are newly recorded from Argentina and specimens of the latter have a very distinct color pattern from the typical Brazilian specimens. Finally, a key to species and maps showing the known distribution of the genus are given (several state records of species are also provided).

A new species of the sharpshooter genus Balacha from an alpine field in southeastern Brazil (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellini)

“…In their morphological phylogenetic analysis, Takiya and Mejdalani (2004) recognized two main groups within the genus, which they called the red clade and the black clade. The former group includes A new species of the sharpshooter genus Balacha from an alpine field in southeastern Brazil (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellini) currently three species and the latter, six (Quintas et al, 2020). Here we describe and illustrate an additional species assigned to the black clade, B. caledonia sp.…”

“…The sharpshooter genus Balacha Melichar, 1926 includes nine species and is distributed in southeastern and southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina, with records from the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Pampas, and Chaco biomes. Recent phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses conducted by Quintas et al (2020) indicated that the exclusive ancestor of all known species of this genus was possibly distributed in the Atlantic Forest, being the presence in other biomes a result of secondary dispersals. Balacha is biologically interesting and peculiar because all its known species use only members of the genus Eryngium (Apiaceae) as host plants, except for the recently described B. ancora Quintas et al, 2020, which is associated with Actinocephalus polyanthus (Eriocaulaceae).…”

“…Recent phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses conducted by Quintas et al (2020) indicated that the exclusive ancestor of all known species of this genus was possibly distributed in the Atlantic Forest, being the presence in other biomes a result of secondary dispersals. Balacha is biologically interesting and peculiar because all its known species use only members of the genus Eryngium (Apiaceae) as host plants, except for the recently described B. ancora Quintas et al, 2020, which is associated with Actinocephalus polyanthus (Eriocaulaceae). The body of Balacha species is moderately flattened dorsoventrally, a condition perhaps associated with the specialized mesohabitat in the rosettes of Eryngium hosts (Takiya and Mejdalani, 2004;Quintas et al, 2020).…”

“…Balacha is biologically interesting and peculiar because all its known species use only members of the genus Eryngium (Apiaceae) as host plants, except for the recently described B. ancora Quintas et al, 2020, which is associated with Actinocephalus polyanthus (Eriocaulaceae). The body of Balacha species is moderately flattened dorsoventrally, a condition perhaps associated with the specialized mesohabitat in the rosettes of Eryngium hosts (Takiya and Mejdalani, 2004;Quintas et al, 2020). Apparently, the shift to an Eryngium host occurred in the ancestor of all recent Balacha species (Takiya and Mejdalani, 2004), with a new shift recorded only in the B. ancora lineage (Quintas et al, 2020).…”

“…The body of Balacha species is moderately flattened dorsoventrally, a condition perhaps associated with the specialized mesohabitat in the rosettes of Eryngium hosts (Takiya and Mejdalani, 2004;Quintas et al, 2020). Apparently, the shift to an Eryngium host occurred in the ancestor of all recent Balacha species (Takiya and Mejdalani, 2004), with a new shift recorded only in the B. ancora lineage (Quintas et al, 2020). In correlation with the distribution of their hosts, Balacha species occur in grasslands in temperate South America and, at lower latitudes in Brazil, are isolated in high altitudinal fields of the southeastern mountain ranges (Takiya and Mejdalani, 2004;Quintas et al, 2020), as in the case of the new taxon described here, which is so far known from a single, apparently small population.…”