Cavichiana Mejdalani et al., 2014 was a formerly monotypic Cicadellinae genus exclusively found in bromeliads from southeastern Brazil. Here a new species is described, diagnosed, and illustrated from Itatiaia National Park, municipality of Itamonte, state of Minas Gerais (Mantiqueira mountain range); specimens were collected on Vriesea spp. (Bromeliaceae). Cavichiana alpina sp. nov. (male holotype in DZRJ) can be recognized by the following combination of features: (1) forewing clavus with basal portion and area along commissural margin orange, remainder of claval area blue (except dark brown apex); (2) corium with large blue area adjacent to claval sulcus, connected to blue area of clavus; (3) distal portion of female and male pygofer not sclerotized; (4) aedeagus with distinct basidorsal lobe and with apex narrowly rounded, not bearing crown of spines; and (5) female sternite VII with deep V-shaped posterior emargination. Notes on the distribution of the genus are provided and C. bromelicola Mejdalani et al., 2014 is newly recorded from southern Brazil.

Bromeliaceae, Cicadellini, leafhopper, morphology, Neotropical Region, taxonomy

The sharpshooter genus Cavichiana Mejdalani et al., 2014 previously comprised a single species, C. bromelicola Mejdalani et al., 2014, exclusively found in bromeliads from the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil (Mejdalani et al. 2014). Cavichiana bromelicola has the body dorsoventrally flattened, a characteristic possibly associated with conditions of the mesohabitat inside the rosettes of Bromeliaceae (Mejdalani et al. 2014).

According to Mejdalani et al. (2014), Cavichiana is similar to Aurigoniella Takiya et al., 2001, Juliaca Melichar, 1926, Microgoniella Melichar, 1926, and Platygonia Melichar, 1925. However, Cavichiana can be distinguished from them, as well as from other New World Cicadellini genera, by the following combination of characters: (1) head deltoid, strongly produced anteriorly; (2) ocelli located distinctly anterad of anterior eye angles; (3) aedeagus tubular and elongate; and (4) paraphyses with both stalk and rami elongate; rami slender, each with a basidorsal dentiform projection. Mejdalani et al. (2014) also cited the presence of a crown of spines at the aedeagal apex as a diagnostic feature of Cavichiana, but this crown is lacking in the new species here described.

In the present paper, a new bromelicolous species of Cavichiana is described and illustrated based on material from Itatiaia National Park, municipality of Itamonte, state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. In addition, notes on the distribution of the genus are provided.

Techniques for preparation of male and female terminalia structures followed Oman (1949) and Mejdalani (1998), respectively. Dissected terminalia parts were stored in small vials with glycerin and pinned below the specimens, as suggested by Young and Beirne (1958). Photographs of the habitus in dorsal and lateral views and of the male and female terminalia in ventral view were taken with a Leica M205 C stereomicroscope and processed with LAS 4.8 software; photographs of the ovipositor valvulae were taken with a Leica DMC2900 light microscope and processed with LAS 4.6 software. Structural terminology followed mainly Young (1968, 1977), except for the facial areas of the head (Hamilton 1981, Mejdalani 1993, 1998) and the female terminalia (Nielson 1965, Hill 1970). Use of the term gonoplac followed Mejdalani (1998). Examined specimens belong to the following Brazilian institutions: Coleção Entomológica Prof. José Alfredo P. Dutra, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (DZRJ, Rio de Janeiro); Coleção Entomológica Padre Jesus Santiago Moure, Departamento de Zoologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná (DZUP, Curitiba); and Departamento de Entomologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ, Rio de Janeiro). Label data were quoted exactly with a reversed virgule (\) separating lines on the labels. Using the online tool SimpleMappr (Shorthouse 2010), we prepared a map to show the known distribution of Cavichiana in Brazil.

The four diagnostic features of Cavichiana given in the introduction are clearly present in the new species; therefore, we are confident about the generic assignment. Cavichiana alpina sp. nov. is similar to the congeneric C. bromelicola (Figs 23–26), but the new species can be easily distinguished by its larger size (7.5–8.2 mm) and remarkable (i.e., conspicuous and contrasting) coloration of dorsum (crown, thorax, and forewing). Detailed diagnostic features of the new species are as follows: (1) forewing clavus (Figs 23, 25) with basal portion and area along commissural margin orange, remainder of claval area blue (except dark brown apex); (2) corium (Figs 23, 25) with large blue area adjacent to claval sulcus, connected to blue area of clavus; (3) distal portion of male (Figs 2, 3) and female (Figs 11, 13) pygofer not sclerotized, distinctly paler than more basal areas; (4) aedeagus (Fig. 7) with distinct basidorsal lobe and (5) with apex narrowly rounded, not bearing crown of spines; and (6) female sternite VII (Figs 11, 12) with deep V-shaped posterior emargination. Interestingly, we observed that the orange pronotal spots of C. alpina (Fig. 23) also occur in C. bromelicola nymphs, especially from the second to the fifth stadium (Quintas and Mejdalani, unpublished data). This observation is an additional support for the inclusion of the new species in Cavichiana.

Specimens of C. alpina sp. nov. have been collected in Itatiaia National Park, southeastern Brazil. The collection sites are located on a mountainous region (Mantiqueira mountain range; Fig. 27), all above 1,800 m a.s.l. Cavichiana bromelicola has been previously recorded only from sea level regions (including the Restinga de Maricá and Picinguaba in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, respectively). However, this species is here newly recorded from a mountainous area (1,250 m a.s.l.) of southeastern Brazil (Nova Friburgo, state of Rio de Janeiro) and from a sea level locality in southern Brazil (Antonina, state of Paraná) (Fig. 27). A putative common exclusive ancestor of the two Cavichiana species was perhaps widely distributed in southeastern and southern Brazil. A vicariant event, such as the uplift of the southeastern Brazilian mountain ranges during the latest Eocene or Oligocene (Safford 1999), may have caused the diversification into these two species. This event was suggested to be associated with speciation in two other sharpshooter genera recorded from southeastern Brazil, viz., Balacha Melichar, 1926 (Takiya and Mejdalani 2004) and Scoposcartula Young, 1977 (Rodrigues et al. 2010).

Alike its congeneric species, C. alpina sp. nov. was also collected from inside bromeliads. The holotype and one male paratype were collected on a small epiphyte identified as Vriesea sp. (Fig. 28), whereas specimens collected at Casa de Pedra were from a large ground V. sazimae Leme (Fig. 29). Vriesea sp. is most likely V. friburgensis Mez, based on the identification of a similar individual with inflorescence photographed at the same sampling site.

This work was supported by Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ; process E-26/200.082/2019; Apoio Emergencial ao Museu Nacional). We are greatly indebted to Cristiano Moreira, Marcos Raposo Ferreira, and other colleagues of the Departamento de Vertebrados for the great support provided to us after the fire at the Museu Nacional (UFRJ). We are grateful to André L.D. Ferreira (Laboratório de Entomologia, UFRJ), Caio C.D. Corrêa (Laboratório de Insetos Aquáticos, MNRJ), Cristiane M.F. da Silva (Laboratório de Entomologia, UFRJ), and Nelson Ferreira Junior (Laboratório de Entomologia, UFRJ), who collected specimens of the new taxon. Material was also collected by researchers of the project BIOTA-FAPERJ “BIOTECTA,” headed by Marcela L. Monné (Setor de Coleoptera, MNRJ). Rodney R. Cavichioli (Departamento de Zoologia, UFPR) kindly loaned specimens of C. bromelicola. We thank Bruno Rezende, Rafaela Forzza, and Janaina Gomes-da-Silva (JBRJ), as well as Ricardo Moura (MNRJ), for the identification of bromeliads. The manuscript benefited from the useful comments of Nathalia H. Pecly (Setor de Hemiptera, MNRJ), Christopher H. Dietrich and Dmitry A. Dmitriev (both from Illinois Natural History Survey), and editor Ângelo P. Pinto. Luiz A.A. Costa (MNRJ) kindly provided advice on the illustrations and inked the drawings. Fellowships from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) to Daniela M. Takiya (process 313677/2017-4), Gabriel Mejdalani (process 303229/2018-7), and Victor Quintas (M.Sc.) are acknowledged.