Morphological study describes three bamboo-associated Vekunta species from Guizhou, China

A morphological study of museum and field collections described three new bamboo-associated species of the planthopper genus Vekunta from Guizhou Province, China: Vekunta deflecta, V. fodingshanensis and V. furcata. The study also reported V. fuscolineata from China for the first time.

The researchers examined dried specimens using stereomicroscopy and an ocular micrometer. Body length was measured from the apex of the vertex to the tip of the forewing, while wing venation and external anatomy were described using established morphological terminology. Male genital segments were removed, macerated in 10% sodium hydroxide and transferred to glycerine jelly for examination and illustration.

Colour photographs of adult habitus were taken with imaging systems, and the dissected terminalia were drawn under a stereomicroscope. The resulting line drawings were scanned and assembled digitally. The study was taxonomic and descriptive rather than an ecological experiment, and its conclusions were based on morphology, collection records and the available host-plant observations.

V. deflecta was represented by five males collected in Libo in 2011 and 2015. The species measured 5.48–6.34 mm in body length, including the forewing, and 4.53–5.43 mm in forewing length. Its name refers to the male anal tube, which is distinctly inclined to the left. The authors distinguished it from V. asymmetrica using the asymmetrical anal tube and differences in the phallic complex.

V. fodingshanensis was described from four males collected at Fodingshan National Nature Reserve in 2025. Body length, including the forewing, ranged from 5.33 to 5.40 mm, while forewing length ranged from 4.40 to 4.66 mm. Its name refers to the type locality. The authors compared it with V. nigra and identified differences involving the male pygofer, gonostyli and periandrium.

V. furcata was described from four males collected in Guizhou between 2012 and 2019. The specimens measured 4.45–4.91 mm in body length, including the forewing, and 3.82–4.29 mm in forewing length. The name refers to a forked, Y-shaped process on the male periandrium. The paper distinguished the species from V. umbripennis through features of the male terminalia.

All three new species were reported from bamboo. V. deflecta and V. fodingshanensis were associated with Bambusa emeiensis, while the host of V. furcata was identified only as Bambusa sp. The authors noted that host records for Vekunta remain scarce and that bamboo-associated and other-host specimens share the genus’s diagnostic characters, without showing clear morphological divergence.

These observations support the possibility that bamboo is an important host plant for Vekunta, but they do not establish that all species in the genus feed exclusively on bamboo. The researchers emphasized that host-associated morphological differences cannot be ruled out, that some species may have broader host ranges, and that further field surveys and more accurate host-association data are needed.

The study also updated the Chinese species list for Vekunta and provided a key to Chinese males based mainly on male terminalia. Five species known only from females were excluded from the key. The authors placed the new species in the genus Vekunta within the tribe Cenchreini, where fused RP and MP1+2 forewing veins help distinguish it from the externally similar Chinese genus Goneokara.

Subject of Research: Taxonomic description of three new Vekunta planthopper species from Guizhou, China

Article Title: Three bamboo-feeding new species of the genus Vekunta Distant ( Hemiptera , Fulgoromorpha , Derbidae ) from Guizhou Province, China

Article References: Yao, X., Sui, Y.-J., Lv, S.-S., Long, J.-K., Chang, Z.-M., Li, Z.-Z., Chen, X.-S., & Yang, L. (2026). Three bamboo-feeding new species of the genus Vekunta Distant (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Derbidae) from Guizhou Province, China. ZooKeys, 1289, 335-351. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1289.186813

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1289.186813

Keywords: Vekunta, planthoppers, Derbidae, taxonomy, morphology, Guizhou, China, bamboo-associated insects, species description, Three, bamboo-feeding, species