Small giants from Madagascan caves: autapomorphic giantism in the new cave-dwelling planthopper Tsingya clarkei gen. nov., sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Meenoplidae)

Abstract

A new giant cave-dwelling species of planthopper of the family Meenoplidae (Fulgoromorpha) is described from the Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park in western Madagascar, with information on its distribution and ecology. As the new species could not be placed in any of the previously described genera, a new genus is established. This is the first record of a cavernicolous meenoplid from the Afrotropical Region, and the second cave-dwelling Fulgoromorphan species from Madagascar. It is also the second example of island gigantism in the Fulgoromorpha from Madagascar.

Une nouvelle espèce géante de Meenoplidae (Hémiptera: Fulgoromorpha) provenant d'une grotte du Parc National Tsingy de Bemaraha est décrite de Madagascar. Des informations sur son écologie et sa distribution sont apportés, ainsi que sur sa position taxonomique. C'est la première mention d'une Meenoplide cavernicole de la région Afrotropicale, et la seconde espèce cavernicole de Fulgoromorpha de Madagascar. C'est également le second exemple de gigantisme insulaire chez les Hémiptères Fulgoromorphes de Madagascar.

LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:465C1870-2B29-4CC5-9BE5-3ED18FF087EB

Keywords:

• taxonomy
• Fulgoromorpha
• troglomorphy
• eutroglophile
• troglobite
• caves
• pinnacle karst
• Afrotropical Region
• conservation
• insular gigantism
• narrow range endemic

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Arthur Clarke for collecting the specimens and forwarding them to the authors. On behalf of Arthur Clarke we also thank Nicolas Gabriel, French wildlife cinematographer, as well as Bonne Pioche Productions, Paris, for providing A.C. with the opportunity to participate as cave biologist/karst consultant in the production of two National Geographic sponsored documentary films featuring the Tsingy de Bemaraha limestone pinnacles, and to M. Ravelomanantsoa Herilala (formerly Chief Conservatoire/Botanist for Bemaraha, Madagascar National Parks Association) for collecting permits. Merci à Nicolas Gabriel and Bonne Pioche/Greenspace Productions for the permission to use the film sequence as supplement for this paper. We also thank our colleagues from the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin: Martin Wicke for help with image processing, Jason Dunlop for language editing, and Manfred Asche for taxonomic advice and for valuable comments on the manuscript.

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2013.840399