Roxasella appendasclerita, Lu & Dietrich & Webb & Zhang, 2025

Lu, Lin, Dietrich, Christopher H., Webb, M. D. & Zhang, Yalin, 2025, Revision of the Oriental Roxasella leafopper group: phylogeny, morphological evolution, biogeography, and description of 14 new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 (3) : -

Roxasella appendasclerita sp.nov.

( Fig. 8A–Q) (URN:LSID:ZOOBANK.ORG:ACT: 846E9D39-D1C9-4C7F-B872- 8B04D2642698)

Diagnosis: Head and thorax with orange markings, crown with narrow black band at anterior margin. Male pygofer with caudoventral margin smooth. Style apex not bilobed, lateroapical margin convex. Aedeagus with one pair of subapical processes not extending beyond midlength of shaf, shaf apex entire in ventral view. Small sclerite present between connective and aedeagus. Fore tibia with dorsal setal arrangement of rows AD and PD 4 + 7; fore femur IC with 13 setae, AV with six stout setae.

Description: Length (including tegmen): male 8.0 mm, female 9.0 mm.

Coloration: Body yellowish. Crown with narrow black band at anterior margin and broader orange band between anterior eye corners. Face stramineous with narrow black transverse band at dorsal margin. Pronotum with anterior margin white, irregularly arcuate orange band in middle, area behind orange band greenish brown.

Crown parabolic, anterior and posterior margins subparallel. Fore tibia with dorsal setal arrangement of rows AD and PD 4 + 7; fore femur IC with 13 setae, AV with six stout setae.

Male genitalia: Style ( Fig. 8N) without short apical extension beyond lateral beak-like lateral lobe. Connective ( Fig. 8P) with stem slightly shorter than arms. Aedeagus with shaf slightly laterally compressed, in lateral view ( Fig. 8M) evenly curved and gradually widened from base to midlength, then parallel sided, in posterior view ( Fig. 8O) parallel sided throughout length; with one pair of short slightly sinuate apical processes extended ventrolateral. Small sclerite (paraphysis) articulated between connective stem and base of aedeagus, narrow and shallowly V-shaped in ventral aspect.

Female (non-type) genitalia: Abdominal sternite VII ( Fig. 8D) with posterior margin with small lobe on each side of mid-line and concave in middle.

Material examined: Holotype: ♂, Malaysia, Sabah, FMU10, Apin apin, Keningau (05°44.31 ′ 07N, 116°45.15 ′ 72E), 1217 m, 24 April–3 May 2016, coll. Z.S. Song. Paratypes: 1♂, same data as holotype ( NWAFU) .

Additional (non-type) material: 1♀ (tentatively associated to males, see generic Remarks), same data as types ( NWAFU) .

Etymology: Te specific epithet, a Latinized adjective, refers to the atached (appenda) sclerite between the aedeagus and connective.

Remarks: Tis species can be distinguished by its relatively robust aedeagal shaf in lateral view with processes relatively short and in having a sclerite (paraphysis) articulated between the connective stem and base of the aedeagus.