Four species of the new Amazonian sharpshooter Daedaloscarta gen. nov. (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

ABSTRACT

Four new species, Daedaloscarta erwini sp. nov. (Peru Loreto), D. maculata sp. nov. (Brazil Amazonas), D. mene sp. nov. (Ecuador Orellana), and D. redacta sp. nov. (Brazil Amazonas) are described and placed in the new genus Daedaloscarta gen. nov. Species of the new genus can be readily distinguished from other Cicadellini genera by their (1) dark brown to black dorsal coloration with contrasting large ivory spots; (2) crown produced and round anteriorly (Figs 1-8); (3) pronotum narrower than transocular width of head, with lateral margins parallel; (4) male pygofer with pair of acute finger-like processes arising at dorsal margin directed inwardly and ventrally; (5) subgenital plates with apical two-thirds very slender; (6) aedeagus very large with shaft elongate, with an unpaired basidorsal, elongate bifurcate basiventral, and paired retrorse lateral processes at midlength of shaft; and (7) paraphyses bifurcate and slender. All known specimens are associated with terra firme or flooded Amazonian forests and were collected by light trapping or insecticidal fogging.