A new genus and species of planthopper from Seychelles endemic palm forest (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Derbidae)

ABSTRACT

A remarkable derbid planthopper was discovered in endemic palm forest on Praslin, Seychelles. Here, we describe it as Salaziella praslinensis Bolotov & Spitsyn gen. & sp. nov. (Derbidae: Otiocerinae: Zoraidini). The new taxon habitually resembles a group of Zoraidini genera, the frons of which shares gradually widening lateral carinae in the upper part, that is, Zorabana Van Stalle, 1984 from Africa and Helcita Stal, 1856 [=Jada Distant, 1906] from Africa and tropical Asia. However, it can be distinguished from these genera based on diagnostic differences in the tegmen venation pattern. The new species is known to occur in a single forest patch on Praslin and seems to be threatened by habitat loss and invasive species impact. Hence, it could be accessed as Critically Endangered (CR B1a).

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E3236191-01A7-4DD4-905D-1D236C0F1446

KEYWORDS:

• Inner Seychelles
• taxonomy
• endemic species
• insular fauna
• speciation
• insect conservation
• palm-associated planthopper

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Andrew Polaszek and the anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Geolocation information

Salaziella praslinensis. Type locality (point): 4.3223°S, 55.7324°E.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partly supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (projects 0409-2019-0042 to V.M.S., E.A.S., and Y.S.K; and 0409-2019-0041 to I.N.B.), and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 19-34-90012 to V.M.S. and I.N.B.).