A new species of Pomponia Stål, 1866 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) from the Western Ghats, with notes on the status of P. linearis (Walker, 1850) from southern India

Abstract

A new species of Pomponia Stål, 1866 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) from the P. linearis group is described from the Western Ghats of southern India. The hitherto unknown species, P. pseudolinearis sp. nov., is easily diagnosed from the other Pomponia species of the Western Ghats based on the unique structure of its male genitalia, low to mid-altitudinal distribution, and the characteristic male song. The new taxon is a member of the P. linearis species group according to its morphology and the distinctly protruding paramedian basal pygofer lobe suggests its affiliation to the linearis species complex inside the P. linearis species group. The divergent basal lobes of pygofer of males of this species are the critical characteristic feature that can be used to distinguish it from all the other members of the P. linearis species complex. It appears that this cryptic, common, and widespread species of the southern Western Ghats region was confused with P. linearis in the past. Pomponia linearis may not occur in the Western Ghats and its records are possibly a result of erroneous identification due to species lumping with similar taxa of linearis species complex distributed from Northeast India to Vietnam. In addition, some new morphometric indices are introduced. Notes on other known Pomponia species of the Western Ghats, namely P. cyanea Fraser, 1948 and P. zebra Bliven, 1964 are also provided with P. folei Fraser, 1948 treated as a nomen nudum.