Lojata Strand, 1933

Sauceda-V, Jefferson & Takiya, Daniela M., 2025, Short-winged mysteries from Andean cloud forests: a new genus and two new species of brachypterous sharpshooters (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae: Proconiini) from Colombia, Zootaxa 5661 (3), pp. 394-406 : 400-401

Lojata Strand, 1933

( Figs. 4−5 )

Loja Schmidt, 1932: 45 [n. gen.]. Type species: Loja ohausi Schmidt, 1932: 47 , preoccupied.

Lojata Strand, 1933: 122 [as new name for Loja Schmidt , preoccupied].

Diagnosis. Large sharpshooters (13.4−16.5 mm). Body covered with nodular callosities. Head ( Fig. 4A, B , 5A, B ) well produced anteriorly; crown ( Figs. 4A , 5A ) posterior portion with a pair of conspicuous tuberosities bordering posterior margin; transition between crown and face with a complete transverse carina; clypeus continuing profile of frons. Pronotum ( Fig. 4A , 5A ) width almost as wide as transocular width of head; in dorsal view, with lateral margins convergent anteriorly; dorsopleural keel ( Fig. 4B , 5B ) complete and strong. Forewing ( Figs. 4A, B , 5A, B ) brachypterous, exposing three ( Fig. 4A, B ) to five ( Fig. 5A, B ) abdominal terga, coriaceous and conspicuously punctate, without membrane. Hind wing ( Fig. 4A , 5A ) also brachypterous, significantly shorter than forewing, less than half the forewing length. Male pygofer ( Fig. 4D ) not produced posteriorly and without processes; inner margin ( Fig. 4E ), in caudal view, with sclerotized lobes. Subgenital plate, in lateral view ( Fig. 4G ), with a median and a pre-apical triangular fang-like projections on dorsal margin. Connective ( Fig. 4H ) arms converging anteriorly; stem broadly linear. Aedeagus atrium ( Fig. 4I, K ) with ventral margin projected as a pair of broad and elongate ventral processes, extending posteriorly and dorsally. Dorsal connective ( Fig. 4J ) H-shaped. Paraphyses ( Fig. 4I, K ) absent.

Distribution. Colombia [new record], Ecuador. Before this work, Lojata was only known from Ecuador in Loja ( Schmidt 1932; Young 1968), based on the type locality of the type species Lojata ohausi . With the present study, the distribution of the genus is expanded, and it is reported for the first time in Colombia, in the municipality of Yarumal.

Remarks. A diagnosis for the genus was made to include some variations found in the new species herein described. Prior to this study, no formal diagnosis had been presented for Lojata . Additionally, Young (1968), in his review of the Proconiini tribe, mentioned that the posterior tibia of Lojata lacks macrosetae. However, this assertion is clearly erroneous, as both L. andina sp. nov. ( Fig. 4 A-B) and L. ohausi ( Fig. 5 A-B) exhibit well-defined macrosetae on their posterior tibiae. Furthermore, we describe, for the first time, characters of the male terminalia within the genus. Lojata was recovered in a combined morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis as closely related to Mareba Distant, 1908 with this clade, in turn, being related to Proconobola Young, 1968 (Takiya et al., in prep.). Lojata shares with species of both genera several morphological characteristics of the male terminalia, such as: (1) connective broadly linear with the stem killed medially; (2) aedeagus shaft tubular and short; and (3) long and robust paired ventral aedeagal processes. Also, it shares with Mareba the clypeus continuing the profile of the frons and with Proconobola the body covered with nodular tuberosities and the pygofer inner margin with sclerotized lobes. Despite these similarities in the male terminalia structures, Lojata can be easily distinguished from Mareba and Proconobola by its external morphology, including diagnostic characteristics such as: (1) crown ( Figs. 4A , 5A ) posterior portion with a pair of conspicuous tuberosities bordering posterior margin (absent in the other genera); (2) pronotum ( Fig. 4A , 5A ) width almost as wide as transocular width of head (greater than transocular width in the related genera); and (3) forewing and hindwing ( Figs. 4A, B , 5A, B ) brachypterous (macropterous in the other genera). Additionally, Lojata can also be separated from both related genera by some characters of the male terminalia, such as the subgenital plates ( Fig. 4G ) with a median and a pre-apical triangular fang-like projections on dorsal margin (with a median dorsal short projection in Mareba and a spinelike apical projection in Proconobola ).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Lojata andina sp. nov, male holotype (CEUA). A, dorsal habitus; B, lateral habitus; C, head, lateral view; D, pygofer, lateral view; E, pygofer, posterior view; F, valve and subgenital plates, ventral view; G, valve and subgenital plate, lateral view; H, connective and styles, dorsal view; I, aedeagus, dorsal connective, anal tube, and paraphyses, lateral view; J, dorsal connective and anal tube, anterior view; K, aedeagus, anal tube and paraphyses, posterior view. Scale bars A–C: 1.0 mm, D–K: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 5. Lojata ohausi Schmidt, 1932, female holotype (MZPW). A, dorsal habitus; B, ventral habitus; C, specimen labels. Scale bar 1.0 mm.