A new species of Chanohirata (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae, Penthimiini) from southern China with its complete genome

The genus <i>Chanohirata</i> Hayashi & Machida, 1996 is the second most speciose genus within the tribe Penthimiini, after <i>Penthimia</i> Germar, 1821 and is nearly endemic to China. This study provides the description of a new species, <i>Chanohirata pala</i> Sun, Xu & Dai, <b>sp. nov.</b>, discovered in Yunnan, southern China and a phylogenetic analysis including this and related taxa. The new species is diagnostically distinguished by its broad, shovel-shaped aedeagal base and a body length of 4.0-4.2 mm, with characteristic yellowish-brown coloration. A novel identification key is presented for all known <i>Chanohirata</i> species, based primarily on male aedeagal morphology, accompanied by a detailed geographic distribution map. Given the high morphological similarity among species within the genus, we complemented traditional taxonomy with molecular data by sequencing and assembling the complete mitochondrial genome of <i>C. pala</i> Sun, Xu & Dai, <b>sp. nov.</b> The mitogenome is 15,433 bp in length (GenBank accession number: PQ615145) and was analyzed for genome organization, base composition, relative synonymous codon usage, amino acid frequency, tRNA secondary structures, and phylogenetic relationships. Currently, <i>Chanohirata</i> comprises 15 species globally. Phylogenetic analyses incorporating mitochondrial protein-coding genes (PCGs), 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA, confirm that <i>C. pala</i> Sun, Xu & Dai, <b>sp. nov.</b> clusters firmly within the Deltocephalinae subfamily and is nested in the tribe Penthimiini. Notably, <i>C. pala</i> Sun, Xu & Dai, <b>sp. nov.</b> forms a sister clade with <i>C. theae</i> (Matsumura, 1912) and <i>C. hamata</i> (Wang & Zhang, 2019). This integrative approach combining detailed morphological examination with complete mitogenome sequencing advances our understanding of species boundaries and evolutionary history within <i>Chanohirata</i>, providing a valuable framework for future taxonomic and phylogenetic studies in Penthimiini.