New species described in 2021

In 2021, seven new species of Auchenorrhyncha were described from the Western Palearctic. Not surprisingly, all the new species were described from the southern and eastern parts of the WP. Those parts of the WP are in general species-rich and less studied compared to northern and (north)western parts of the WP.

New species of Doratura

Two new species, Doratura butzele and Doratura rikele, are described by Guglielmino & Bückle (2021). Both species are described from Italy, but Doratura butzele also occurs in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro. Slovenian auchenorrhynchologist Gabrijel Seljak provided photos of Doratura butzele for this website, which can be found on the species page.

Two new species from Turkey

Two species, Balcanocerus stellatus and Aphrophora geruzei were described from Turkey in 2021. In their publication, Özgen and Gnezdilov (2021) also provide a key to the Palearctic species of the genus Balcanocerus.

The first cavernicolous kinnarid for the WP

A very interesting new species is the Kinnarid Valenciolenda fadaforesta from Spain. Not only is this just the third Kinnaridae species known from the WP, it also is the very first kinnarid from mainland Europe and the first cavernicolous kinnarid in the WP. The family Kinnaridae is worldwide only represented by approximately 115 species, and this new species is only the seventh cavernicolous species known to science.

Two species named after local entomologists

The final two species are named after entomologists who work(ed) in the area where the species occur or who collected the type specimens.  Cixius wollastoni, described from the Madeira Island Santana, is named after Thomas H. Wollaston, an entomologist who worked on the entomological fauna of Madeira and collected Auchenorrhyncha. The species Platymetopius scalercioi, which is described from southern and central Italy, is named after the entomologist Stefano Scalercio, who collected the type specimens.

References

• Freitas, É. & D. Aguín-Pombo 2021. Taxonomy of the Cixiidae (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha) from the Madeira archipelago. European Journal of Taxonomy 744: 1-37.
• Guglielmino, A. & Ch. Bückle 2021. Two new species of the genus Doratura Sahlberg (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) from the Mediterranean Region. Israel Journal of Entomology 51: 77-84.
• Hoch, H., A. Sendra, S. Montagud, S. Teruel & R.L. Ferreira 2021. First record of a cavernicolous Kinnaridae from the Old World (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Fulgoromorpha, Kinnaridae, Adolendini) provides testimony of an ancient fauna. Subterranean Biology 37: 1-26.
• Özgen, I & V.M. Gnezdilov, 2021. A new species of Balcanocerus Maldonado-Capriles (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae: Eurymelinae) from Eastern Anatolia, with a key to Palaearctic species and new records. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 123(3): 529-537.
• Poggi, F., Manti, F. & Castiglione, E. 2021. A new species of the leafhopper genus Platymetopius Burmeister, 1838 (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae) from southern Italy. Rivista del Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali “Enrico Caffi”, Bergamo, 24: 19-23.
• Tanyeri, R. & Ü. Zeybekoğlu 2021. A new species of the genus Aphrophora Germar (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Aphrophoridae) from Turkey. Entomological News 130(1): 70-78.

 

By Marco de Haas

Updated 8 January 2022 15:06 GTM