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Title: A new species of Taosa (Hemiptera:Dictyopharide) from South America associated with Water Hyacinth

Author
item REMES LENICOV, ANA MARINO - National University Of La Plata And Museum
item HERNANDEZ, M. CRISTINA - South American Biological Control Lab(SABCL)

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/7/2010
Publication Date: 5/1/2010
Citation: Remes Lenicov, A., Hernandez, M. 2010. A new species of Taosa (Hemiptera:Dictyopharide) from South America associated with Water Hyacinth. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 103(3):332-340.

Interpretive Summary: For the past 40 years, extensive surveys have been carried out in South America for potential biocontrol agents for water hyacinth, which is considered one of the world’s worst aquatic weeds and is a problem on the East and West coasts in the United States. In the latest explorations several species of planthoppers were found.. In a collaborative work between the USDA-ARS-South American Biological Control Laboratory and La Plata University, Argentina, the taxonomist Ana M. Remes Lenicov describes a new species of planthopper. Valuable biological information was obtained at SABCL as part of the evaluation tests of this new species.

Technical Abstract: A new species of Taosa (Hemiptera: Dictyopharidae) is described. All the stages were collected on the aquatic weed Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach (Pontederiaceae) at several localities on the Paraguay River in Argentina, and the upper Amazon River in Perú. Taosa impictifrons Remes Lenicov n.sp. is distinguished by the following coloration pattern and morphological features: uniform green coloration with a pair of lateral small dark spots on mesonotum, vertex subquadrate with a closed triangular facet well defined on apex, and a long anal segment; in male, the shape and relative length of parameres, the tubular aedeagus with a pair of ventral spinose processes recurved upward; in the female, the length, shape and denticulation of the first valvulae of the ovipositor. Further information on reproductive and feeding behavior, host plants, and geographical distribution of this species are given.