Caliscelis (Melanero) larvata Emeljanov 2015

The genus Caliscelis was erected by Laporte for caliscelids with decorative forelegs and named after them (καλή = beautiful σχελίς = legs).
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/40999
Only 3 species are known from Southern Africa.
Caliscelis can be easily distinguished from related genera in the region by the flattend leaf-shaped fore or middle femora and by the obtuse angle (105°–110°) at which coryphe (vertex) and metope (frons) join.

Caliscelis (Melanero) larvata is similar to C. nero in the habitus and size but differs from all the congeners in the presence of convex plates on the fore wings in the male and tubercles on the lateral lobes of the metope in the female.
Body length 2.1–2.6 mm in male, 3.1–3.4 mm in female.
Male: Head reddish brown to dark brown; coryphe paler. Pronotum dorsally (i.e., its disc) and mesoscutum whitish brown; paranota white. Keel-shaped veins of fore wing whitish; intervals dark brown to black; claval plates black, glossy; posterior part of fore wing brown, with reddish tint. Abdomen dark brown to black, with pale whitish spots on tergites. Fore wings rather short; their sutural margin nearly as long as posterior margin, saddle-like; claval areas convex, oval, in form of plates with lustrous surface.
Female: Similar to female of C. nero in habitus (fore wings even, without plates, in contrast to those of male); differing in presence of nodules in upper part of lateral lobes, in inconspicuous intermediate carinae of metope, and, in fore tibia less strongly widened than that in C. nero, similarly to that in male. Body generally gray, with black spots. Paranota of pronotum, costal areas of fore wings, and lateral margins of tergites pale, whitish; abdomen with longitudinal paler median stripe diffused along its margins. Legs pale brown with reddish tint. In C. nero, all parts of body almost regularly gray with dark spots; only paranota paler than general coloration, but also with spots. In C. larvata, paranota and costal areas without spots.

Original description & illustrations in:
Emeljanov, A. F. 2015. A subgeneric subdivision of the genus Caliscelis Lap. with description of new species (Homoptera, Caliscelidae). Entomological Review, 95(7), 918–930.
doi:10.1134/S001387381507009X
https://sci-hub.ee/10.1134/S001387381507009X

Recorded so far only from South Africa: North West, Free State, Northern Cape and Limpopo.

iNat observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/36811629

Key to Afrotropical Caliscelidae in:
Gnezdilov, V. & Bourgoin, T. 2009). First record of the family Caliscelidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) from Madagascar, with description of new taxa from the Afrotropical Region and biogeographical notes. Zootaxa, 2020: 1–36. 10.11646/zootaxa.2020.1.1.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264799540_Gnezdilov_VM_T_Bourgoin_2009_First_record_of_the_family_Caliscelidae_Hemiptera_Fulgoroidea_from_Madagascar_with_description_of_new_taxa_from_the_Afrotropical_Region_and_biogeographical_notes_Zootaxa_2

Posted on March 17, 2024 07:10 PM by traianbertau