A New Replacement Name in the Planthopper Family Achilidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha)

Abstract

Fennah (1956) described Zathauma metasequoiae from western Hubei [Hupeh] in southern China on the basis of one female specimen. The genus Zathauma was originally described by Fennah (1949) for Zathauma cristatum Fennah, 1949 (the type species) from Borneo. Fennah (1956) noticed the differences between metasequoiae and cristatum and he stated that ‘‘This species [metasequoiae] is larger than the type [cristatum], has a differently-shaped vertex and lacks the foliately raised mesonotal carina. The cephalic differences, however, are no greater than those in Faventilla, and in other characters, including tegminal venation and coloring, it generally resembles Z. cristatum.’’ Recently I examined the female holotype of Zathauma metasequoiae Fennah, 1956, deposited at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, USA .W e found that Zathauma metasequoiae Fennah, 1956 is actually a member of the genus Magadha Distant 1906. Magadha was described by Distant (1906) for two species, Cixius flavisigna Walker 1851 (type species) from northern India and M. nebulosa Distant 1906 from Sri Lanka. Magadha is a typical Oriental achilid genus and currently includes about 10 described species (Fennah, 1950; Chen et al., 1989). The transfer of metasequoiae from Zathauma to Magadha requires a new replacement name for this species in order to avoid a consequent secondary homonym since Fennah (1956: 486) named a new species with the name metasequoiae in the genus Magadha. The specimens studied in the course of this work are deposited in the following institutions, abbreviated in the text as follows: CAS, California Academ yo f Sci