Pomponia eminula, Wang & Hayashi & Wei, 2025

Wang, Jiali, Hayashi, Masami & Wei, Cong, 2025, Phylogeny, biogeography, and diversiFIcation of the cicada Pomponia linearis and its allies (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 203 (4) : -

Pomponia eminula sp. n.

( Figs 11, 12) urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2F4D3226-7D3E-47AB-BF2E-01B55C2FFB20

Tope material: Holotype: ♂ ( NWAFU), China: Yinjiang Co., Yunnan Province, 14 August 2022, Wenzhe Zhang leg.

Paratypes: 10♂ ( NWAFU), China: Yinjiang Co., Yunnan Province, 14 August 2022, Wenzhe Zhang leg.

Measurements of topes: (in millimetres; 15♂♂): body length, ♂ 38.0–39.2; forewing length, ♂ 41.5–42.4; forewing width, ♂ 13.8–14.3; width of head including eyes, ♂ 9.7–10.2;

pronotum width (including pronotal collar), ♂ 12.8–13.3; and mesonotum width, ♂ 10.1–10.4.

Etomologo: Te species name is a Latin adjective meaning ‘eminent’, signifying the greatly swollen postclypeus.

Description of male: Head ( Fig. 11A, B, D). Mostly green afer death. Head including eyes as wide as the base of the mesonotum. Eyes blackish brown and ocelli greenish yellow. A fuscous median longitudinal fascia extending from anterior margin of head to frontoclypeal suture and median blackish brown spot enclosing ocelli. Ventral part of head ochraceous, with a broad pale yellowish transverse band across head and postclypeus. Postclypeus much swollen. Anteclypeus blackish brown, with dense golden hair. Rostrum ochraceous, with apical part blackish brown, almost extending to posterior margin of abdominal sternite II.

Torax ( Fig. 11A, E). Pronotum longer than head, almost greenish yellow; inner area of pronotum with fuscous longitudinal fascia medially and with brown irregular patch on each side; pronotal collar green, with small median spot and with two pairs of large brown spots on each lateral angle of pronotal collar. Mesonotum fundamentally blackish brown, with the following greenish markings: paired delicate fasciae along submedian sigilla; paired fasciae along parapsidal suture, reaching to half of mesonotum; paired lobate fasciae along lateral sigilla, reaching to anterior angles of cruciform elevation; and narrow fasciae along lateral margins of mesonotum, reaching to anterior angles of cruciform elevation. Cruciform elevation greenish brown.

Legs ( Fig. 11C). Green, with blackish brown patches. Fore femora swollen and equipped with three blackish brown spines beneath: primary spine pointed and oblique to femur; secondary spine broader with acute tip, erect; and subapical spine short and small.

Wings ( Fig. 11B). Hyaline. Forewing with fuscous spots on radial, radiomedial, medial, and mediocubital crossveins, small fuscous spots on both ends of cubitus anterior vein, and nearly uniform marginal series of faint and minute spots present on apex of longitudinal veins of apical cells.

Abdomen ( Fig. 11B, E, F). Cylindrical balloon, noticeably longer than head and thorax together. Abdominal tergites brown to ochraceous, with posterior margins of each tergite narrowly black. Abdominal sternites translucent and mostly pale brown. Timbal cover semicircular and brown; timbal mostly concealed by timbal cover in dorsal view. Opercula ochraceous, separated, and broader than long, extending slightly beyond posterior margin of sternite II.

Genitalia ( Fig. 11G–I). Pygofer elliptical in ventral view, ochraceous, with apex blackish brown. Distal shoulder broadly triangular, distally extended into pointed lobe. Upper lobes large, substantially confluent with pygofer margin in ventral view ( Fig. 11G). Basal lobes small, nearly straight, and parallel to each other. Uncus trapezoid, with a narrow and short median incision. Lateral branches of uncus protruding from below uncus and each with two long and acute spines: lateral spine slightly curved laterally, and medial spine nearly straight and longer than lateral spine in ventral view.

Description of female ( Fig. 12A–E): Opercula small, posterior margin extending abdominal sternite II. Ovipositor sheath not protruding beyond apex of segment IX, posterior margin of sternite VII incised at middle. Other characteristics similar to male.

Distribution: China (Yunnan).

Diagnostic features: Pomponia eminula can be distinguished from other species of the P. linearis species group by the distinctly fuscous spots on radial, radiomedial, medial, and mediocubital crossveins of forewing, two small fuscous spots on both ends of cubitus anterior vein (except P. brevisa ) of forewing, nearly uniform marginal series of faint and minute spots on apex of longitudinal veins of apical cells (except P. ramifera and P. urania ), and the slightly laterally curved lateral spine of lateral branches of uncus shorter than nearly straight medial spine of lateral branches of uncus. Pomponia eminula can be distinguished from P. brevisa by the smaller body size, the ochraceous markings on the mesonotum, and the small basal lobes. Pomponia eminula can be distinguished from P. ramifera and P. urania by the distinctly fuscous spot on the mediocubital crossvein and by the semicircular timbal cover.