New insect species discovered in Vietnam
The newly described insects comprise one beetle species, Rhyparus vietnamicus Ochi, Kusui, Pham, 2018, and two planthopper species in the genus Sogana (family Tropiduchidae, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, order Hemiptera).
On May 27, researcher Phạm Hồng Thái of the Vietnam National Museum of Nature (Bảo tàng Thiên nhiên Việt Nam), part of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (Viện Hàn lâm Khoa học và Công nghệ Việt Nam), said that entomologists from the museum and from Japan, working with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, had announced the discovery of several new insect species in Vietnam.
A new beetle species has been given the scientific name Rhyparus vietnamicus Ochi, Kusui, Pham, 2018. (Source: vast.ac.vn)
The new insect species announced are a beetle named Rhyparus vietnamicus Ochi, Kusui, Pham, 2018, and two new planthoppers in the genus Sogana (family Tropiduchidae, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, order Hemiptera).
Specifically, Japanese entomologists and entomologists from the Vietnam National Museum of Nature described the beetle Rhyparus vietnamicus Ochi, Kusui, Pham, 2018.
The new beetle belongs to the genus Rhyparus, tribe Rhyparini, subfamily Aphodiinae, family Scarabaeidae, order Coleoptera.
The specimens studied were collected in Lào Cai province in northern Vietnam (which has since absorbed the former Yên Bái province) and measure 7.7-7.9 mm in body length. With the description of Rhyparus vietnamicus Ochi, Kusui, Pham, 2018, the number of Rhyparus species recorded in Vietnam now stands at two.
Around the same time, scientists from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Vietnam National Museum of Nature described two new planthopper species in the genus Sogana (family Tropiduchidae, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, order Hemiptera).
They were named Sogana bachmana Constant & Pham, 2019, whose males reach 29.0 mm in body length, and Sogana baviana Constant & Pham, 2019, whose males measure 23.5 mm.
Worldwide, the family Tropiduchidae includes 660 species, 18 of which had been recorded in Vietnam. The genus Sogana had 11 known species worldwide, three of them recorded in Vietnam.
With the two new species described from Vietnam, the country's tally of Tropiduchidae rises to 20 species. Of the 13 species in the genus Sogana, five occur in Vietnam (nearly 40% of the genus).
Even so, these figures represent only part of the true diversity of Tropiduchidae in Vietnam, where many new species and genera are still awaiting description.
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