Cixius persicus Distant, 1907

Mozaffarian, Fariba & Hoch, Hannelore, 2023, Contribution to the planthopper fauna of Iran: Cixiidae, tribe Cixiini (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Fulgoromorpha), Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 9 (3), pp. 567-581 : 569-570

Cixius persicus Distant, 1907 ( Figs 1A–C & 6A)

Cixius persicus Distant, 1907:284 ; C. longipennis Melichar, 1902:86 , nec Cixius longipennis Walker, 1851 ( South Africa: Natal), nomen preoccupatum, replaced with C. persicus by Distant (1907:284).

Remarks. There is no information on the male genitalia of C. persicus so that this species is not included in the key. According to the original description ( Melichar, 1902), the species description is based on 2 females. Cixius persicus can be recognized by the elongate hyaline forewings which extend beyond the tip of the abdomen with more than one third of their total length, and the median longitudinal carina of the mesonotum which fades towards apex ( Figs 1A–C).

The species was originally collected from “Nehibandan” in the east of Iran ( Fig. 6A) by N.A. Zarudny, ornithologist, and described by Melichar as C. longipennis . Due to the preoccupation of the name, it was replaced with C. persicus by Distant (1907). According to the available information, the species is endemic to Iran, Khorasan mountains region which was shown to be an endemic zone for planthoppers in the country ( Mozaffarian, 2013). The mountains in the south of Khorasan are surrounded by central Iranian deserts to the west and lowlands in Afghanistan to the east. Thus, it is conceivable that geographic separation has facilitated the origin of endemic species.

Cixius (Acanthocixius) stigmaticus ( Germar, 1818) ( Figs 4A–D & 6B)

Flata stigmatica Germar, 1818:199 [presumably Germany]; Cixius stigmaticus Curtis, 1829:194 ; Cixius stigmaticus reuteri Metcalf, 1936:219 , replacement name for Cixius stigmaticus albipennis Reuter, 1880:194 , [ Finland] nec Stål, 1855:92 < Achilidae >; Cixius (Sciocixius) stigmaticus Wagner, 1939:89 , 108; Cixius (Acanthocixius) stigmaticus Holzinger, Kammerlander & Nickel, 2003:101 .

Remarks. The species is distributed in western, eastern and southern Europe ( Nast, 1972) and Turkey ( Tezcan & Zeybekoglu, 2001). It was recorded only once from Iran in southern slope of Alborz mountain ( Fig. 6B) by Dlabola (1985). The specimen was deposited in National Museum of Prague. According to the available published data, this is the easternmost record of the species distributional range. Since it was not collected and housed in HMIM, the illustration in Figs 4A–D was prepared from identified specimens deposited in ZIN.