New San Francisco Bay Area spittlebug of the genus Clastoptera Germar, 1839 (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Clastopteridae) makes unique mineral-crusted spittles

Abstract. Clastoptera mineralis sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Clastopteridae) lives on cypresses (Hesperocyparis spp.) (Cupressaceae) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of its post-first-instar nymphs form and live within mineral-crusted spittle masses until adult emergence. No comparable phenomenon has been documented in New World spittlebugs, but mineral coverings have been observed in the Old World spittlebug groups Machaerotidae, which make mineralized nymphal tubes, and Tremapterus Spinola, 1850, which make spittles with mineral casings. In contrast to the more permanent and organized structures of the Old World species, the remains of C. mineralis crust disappear after late fall rains and may depend on the intense California summer dry season for their initial persistence. They might represent an early stage in the evolution of nymphal mineral coverings. Some C. mineralis nymphs are associated with spittle-inhabiting larvae of the fly Cladochaeta sturtevanti Wheeler & Takada, 1971 (Diptera: Drosophilidae), which apparently stunts their growth. Some C. sturtevanti pupae are attacked in turn by a chalcid wasp parasitoid of the genus Pachyneuron Walker, 1833 (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae). Both parasitized and unparasitized fly puparia were found associated with C. mineralis mineral crusts.