Records of the Western Australian Museum 17: 451—454 (1996). 
A new cavernicolous planthopper of the family Meenoplidae from 
New Caledonia (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) 
Hannelore Hoch 
Museum fur Naturkunde der Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Institut fur Systematische Zoologie, 
InvalidenstraGe 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany 
Abstract - A new troglobitic meenoplid species, Eponisia hypogaea sp. nov., 
is described from a limestone cave in New Caledonia, representing the first 
known cave-dwelling meenoplid species from the island. Notes on its 
ecology and generic placement are given. 
INTRODUCTION 
The Meenoplidae is one of the smaller families of 
planthoppers (Fulgoroidea) with only about 120 
species. Epigean Meenoplidae are widely 
distributed in the Palaearctic, the Palaeotropics, 
Australia, and the western Pacific. The first 
cavernicolous meenoplid species, Phaconeura pluto, 
was described by Fennah (1973) from a cave in 
Nambung National Park, Western Australia. 
Subsequently, nine more cavernicolous 
Meenoplidae have been described from the Canary 
Islands (Remane and Hoch 1988; Hoch and Asche 
1993), Western Samoa (Hoch and Asche 1988), 
Australia: Queensland (Hoch 1990) and Western 
Australia (Hoch 1993). Yet another cavernicolous 
meenoplid species is described here from Grottes 
d'Adio in New Caledonia and assigned to the 
genus Eponisia Matsumura. A synopsis of the 
world's cavernicolous Meenoplidae is given in 
Table 1. 
The epigean meenoplid fauna of New Caledonia 
was studied by Fennah (1969) who found 8 species 
in 3 genera ( Eponisia , Nisia Melichar and Suva 
Kirkaldy). Bourgoin (pers. comm.) is currently 
reviewing the epigean Meenoplidae of New 
Caledonia, and will assess the generic placement of 
the new cavernicolous species in due course. The 
new species described here represents the second 
cavernicolous planthopper species from New 
Caledonia; the first was the troglobitic Notuchus 
larvalis Fennah (Delphacidae), described from 
Taphozous Cave, Hienghene (Fennah 1980). 
The specimens are lodged in the Museum 
National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN) and 
the Queensland Museum, Brisbane (QM). 
SYSTEMATICS 
Family Meenoplidae 
Genus Eponisia Matsumura 
Eponisia hypogaea sp. nov. 
Figures 1-8 
Material Examined 
Holotype 
6, Grottes d'Adio, New Caledonia, 21°15’S 
165°15'E, dark zone, 21 February 1993, M.S. 
Harvey, N.I. Platnick, R.J. Raven (MNHN). 
Paratypes 
New Caledonia: 1 i,l $, same data as holotype 
(QM). 
Diagnosis 
Cavernicolous. Small species with compound 
eyes, bodily pigmentation and tegmina reduced. 
Differing from other New Caledonian meenoplid 
species by these troglomorphic characters and by 
the male genital structures. 
Description 
Body length (equals distance between apex of 
head and tip of abdomen; measurements taken 
from specimens preserved in ethanol). Male: 3.2 - 
3.8 mm (n=2). Female: 3.9 mm (n=l). 
Body and legs pale yellow; tegmina shallowly 
tectiform, translucent, pale yellow, venation 
yellowish with areas of sensory pits white. 
Head (Figures 1-3): vertex 1.6 times wider at 
base than long medially, continually rounded onto 
frons; posterolateral areolets small, triangular. 
Compound eyes and ocelli absent. Lateral margins 
of vertex and frons strongly ridged, directed 
anterolaterad, each bearing a row of oval sensory 
pits which ends at level of frontoclypeal suture. 
Vertex, frons and clypeus smooth, without median 
carina. Frons in frontal aspect with lateral margins 
slightly convex (maximum width of frons slightly 
below level of antennae), frons ca. 1.4 times longer 
medially than maximally wide, and ca. 1.6 times 
