Petalocephala conica (Walker)

VIRAKTAMATH, C. A., WEBB, M. D. & YESHWANTH, H. M., 2025, Leafhopper subfamily Ledrinae of the Indian subcontinent: 2. Genera Digitata Wang, Li & Dai, Latycephala McKamey, Petalocephala Stål and Thlasia Germar (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) with description of six new species, Zootaxa 5623 (1), pp. 1-71 : 14-15

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5623.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EC60C793-9617-47F7-A839-E0C803101938
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03FD4400-FF91-9F6B-FEDE-F85DFE15FC8D
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Petalocephala conica (Walker)
status

Treatment

Petalocephala conica (Walker) View in CoL

Figs 4A–H View FIGURES 4 , 17 View FIGURES 17 JK.

Ledra conica Walker 1851: 823 View in CoL .

Petalocephala conica (Walker) View in CoL : Distant 1908: 164.

Ledropsis stali Melichar 1903: 143 View in CoL , pl IV fig. 16. Synonymized by Distant 1908: 164. Diagnosis. Female. P. conica View in CoL externally resembles P. confusa View in CoL but differs in being larger and with differently shaped posterior margin of female sternite VII.

Description. Female. Pale greenish yellow. Crown medially finely carinate, lateral margins convexly convergent in front of eyes, apex conically rounded; about 0.94× as long medially as interocular distance and about 1.43× as long as median length of pronotum; ocelli about as wide apart from each other as from adjacent eye. Pronotum with lateral margins more or less parallel sided, distance between posterolateral angles 1,05× as long as that between anterolateral angles and shorter (0.77×) than mesonotum. Female sternite VII with posterior margin slightly concave ( Fig. 4B View FIGURES 4 ).

Material examined. SRI LANKA: HOLOTYPE ( Ledra conica ) ♀ , “ Ceylon [18]50.56 (on reverse), BMNH register entry for 1850.56: “ Ceylon presented by Joseph Hooker” “ Holotype ” “NHMUK 013590077”. Other material, 1♀, (wrongly labelled as type) “30 Ledra conica ”, “ Ceylon [18]52.62 (on reverse), register entry for 1852 62: “ Ceylon collected by Mr Templeton ”, “NHMUK 010592223”; 1♀, Kalini Valley , xi.1900; 1♀, Digitalaura, ix.05 (all BMNH) . SRI LANKA: SYNTYPE ♀, ( Ledropsis stali ) “Pattipola, 2000m ”, “Ceylon, Biro 1902”, “ Ledropsis : stali det. Melichar ”, “22.π” ( HNHM) .

Remarks. Walker (1851) described this species based on a single specimen (holotype) with the following data: “a. Ceylon. Presented by Dr. Hooker”. Distant (1908) in addition to transferring it to the genus Petalocephala considered it to be allied to P. cultellifera and differentiated it from the latter “by the more conical and apically more broadened vertex of the head”. Melichar (1903) described Ledropsis stali based on an unspecified number of females and two nymphs (syntypic) mentioning specimen(s) in HNMH with collection data “Pattipola, Pattalum, (Museum Budapest)”.