Angulapteryx Bartlett, 2025

Bartlett, Charles R., Hagerty, Tyler, Yanega, Douglas, Hoddle, Mark S., Gebiola, Marco & Gómez-Marco, Francesc, 2025, A taxonomic review of Poblicia Stål, 1866 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae), with special reference to species north of Mexico, Zootaxa 5689 (1), pp. 81-113 : 103-104

Genus Angulapteryx Bartlett , gen. nov.

The Striated lanternflies

Type species. Poblicia texana Oman , 1936.

Diagnosis. General color mottled grey, with a dark median vitta from head apex to apex of mesonotum. Face bearing strongly developed carinae in dorsal part and a transverse carina just above frontoclypeal suture. Vertex much broader than long. Face broad, dorsal margin convex. Forewings elongated and opaque. Hindwing broadly washed with fuscous except irregular transparent patches proximally.

Description. Color. Overall coloration ( Fig. 19 ) mottled brown-grey, with a dark vitta from head to apex of mesonotum (intensity and extent varying), with the median carina of nota pale. Forewing opaque, mainly grey marked variously with irregular patches of charcoal, pale spotting and sometimes with reddish wash. Hindwing greyish to blackish, usually with 1–2 irregular hyaline windows near base. Fore and middle legs often with two pale bands on the tibiae. Dorsum of abdomen near black proximally paler or reddish distally.

Structure. Body length (including wings) ~ 18–22 mm. Body in dorsal view broad and parallel-sided, in lateral view dorsoventrally compressed, head and thorax in similar plane (mesonotum weakly raised relative to inclined pronotum). Head in dorsal view ( Fig. 19A ) broad and strongly transverse (head projection lacking), anteriorly broadly convex, posterior margin concave. Vertex much wider than long, carinate on all margins, median carina present, disc depressed often bearing one or more pits near middle, surface irregular; anterior margin of head (dorsal view) appearing to have second anterior carina (i.e., with “double carina between forehead and crown”, viz. Metcalf 1938). Head in lateral view with face distinctly receding ventrally, inflection between vertex and frons (i.e., fastigium) sharp. Frons (frontal view, Fig. 19C ) broad, roughly quadrate, broader than high, dorsal margin convex, laterally foliate; median carina present (may be incomplete), dorsal portion bearing strongly developed carina partially enclosing dorsal portion of face; a sinuate transverse carina just above frontoclypeal suture. Frontoclypeal suture arched, clypeus bearing median and sublateral carinae. Antennae short, scape short (hidden behind lateral foliations of frons from frontal view), pedicel bulbous, longer than wide, bearing sensory plaques, flagellum bristle-like with bulbous base. Eyes bulbous, laterally projecting, subcircular (in lateral view), with weakly expanded callus behind ventrocaudal margin (not an expanded flange), lacking a vertical carina or spine in front of eye. Lateral ocelli conspicuous at anterior ventral margin of eye. Rostrum exceeds hind coxae.

In dorsal view, pronotum broader than vertex along midline, anterior margin truncate and carinate with lateral potions diagonally sloped; posterior margin weakly angulate, median carina distinct. Mesonotum triangular, subequal in length at midline to pronotum + head combined, median carina distinct, lateral carinae obscure. Tegulae conspicuous. Front and middle legs with femora and tibiae not expanded. Forewings elongated and opaque, costal and trailing margin subparallel, apex narrowing to rounded apex (near apical branches of RP and MP), claval apex distad of midlength. Hindwings broad, maximum width near base, anal lobe well-developed.

Male terminalia. Pygofer in lateral view ( Fig. 20A ), broadest near ventral margin, narrowed dorsad; in ventral view, ventral pygofer margin ( Fig. 20B ) concave (medioventral margin weakly convex). Gonostyli broad and spatulate, proximal lateral portion bearing a conspicuous laterally projected hook; apex rounded. Phallus stout, bilaterally symmetrical; horizontally bisected into dorsal and ventral lobes; dorsal lobe with a bifurcated inflatable process. Anal tube (lateral view, Fig. 20A ) thick, broadened distally; from ventral or dorsal view ( Fig. 21E ), apex deeply concave, lateral margins projected; epiproct visible from above, paraproct conical, exceeding posterior margin.

Etymology. Formed from the Greek words “ angula ” (corner, bent) combined with “ pteryx ” (wing), a reference to the narrowed apex of the forewing. The genus is feminine in gender.

Remarks. Superficially, Angulapteryx gen. nov. is easily separated from other US Poiocerini by the mottled grey color bearing a dark median vitta. Angulapteryx gen. nov. has a broader vertex than all Poblicia species except P. misella . Poblicia , as defined here, is uniformly near black. Angulapteryx gen. nov. is similar in general proportions to Scaralina Yanega, 2024 , but differs most conspicuously in having opaque instead of partially transparent forewings.

Two other genera in the Poiocerini that reach the United States in extreme southern Texas are Alaruasa Distant, 1906 (e.g., Bartlett et al. 2014, fig. 83A, D) and Itzalana Distant, 1905 (e.g., Bartlett et al. 2014, fig. 83B, E). Both are Central American genera. Itzalana is highly distinctive—species are short and broad with a head wider than the thorax. Alaruasa as a genus is probably heterogeneous, but Alaruasa lepida ( Spinola, 1839) , the type species, is similar to Angulapteryx gen. nov. from dorsal perspective of the head and thorax, but does not have the strongly developed carinae of the face, and the transverse carina above the frontoclypeus of Angulapteryx gen. nov. is absent in Alaruasa lepida . The more dorsal carinae enclosing the triangular area is not fully developed. Alaruasa also appears to be less dorsoventrally compressed and the hindwings are of variable color but usually not uniformly fuscous (possibly excepting A. anceps ( Stål, 1869) , A. pallidoconspersa ( Distant, 1905)) . Angulapteryx gen. nov. also lacks the copious wax production found in some members of Alaruasa ( viz. A. aerata ( Distant, 1887) , A. anceps , and A. violacea ( Distant, 1887)) .

Distribution. Southern USA (especially East) and Mexico.

Species composition

Angulapteryx texana ( Oman, 1936), comb. nov. —The striated lanternfly

Figures

FIGURE 19. Holotype of Poblicia texana (male, USNM), A) habitus, dorsal view, B) habitus, ventral view, C) face, D) male terminalia, F) labels.

FIGURE 20. Male terminalia of Angulapteryx texana comb. nov. (Texas, Lamar Co., Paris, paratype), A) right lateral view, B) caudoventral view.

FIGURE 21. Male terminalia of Angulapteryx texana comb. nov., A) aedeagus, right lateral view, B) gonostyli, ventral view, C) aedeagus, dorsal view, D) aedeagus ventral view, E) anal tube, dorsal view.