Species Euphanta munda (Walker, 1851)

Euphanta munda (Walker), adult

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Poeciloptera munda Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 2 pp. 261-636. [455].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (presented by the Haslar Hospital; holotype by monotypy), New Holland.
• Poeciloptera unicolor Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 2 pp. 261-636. [465].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (presented by the Haslar Hospital; holotype by monotypy), New Holland.
• Cromna nasalis Walker, F. 1858. List of specimens of Homopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Supplement. London : British Museum (Natural History) 369 pp. [120].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (coll: Stevens, 51/9; holotype by monotypy), Adelaide, South Australia.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Stål, C. 1862. Synonymiska och systematiska anteckningar öfver Hemiptera. Öfversigt af Kongelige Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, Stockholm 19(9): 479-504 [489] (synonymy of Cromna nasalis Walker)
• Melichar, L. 1902. Monographie der Acanaloniiden und Flatiden (Homoptera) (Fortsetzung). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums in Wien 17: 1-253 [40] (synonymy of Poeciloptera unicolor Walker.)

Generic Combinations

• Euphanta munda (Walker, 1851). —
  Melichar, L. 1902. Monographie der Acanaloniiden und Flatiden (Homoptera) (Fortsetzung). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums in Wien 17: 1-253 [40]

Introduction

This species is reasonably common in the ranges of eastern Australia and has also been collected in several inland locations in New South Wales and southern Queensland. The type locality is Adelaide, Souith Australia. Little is known of its biology.
Poeciloptera unicolor Walker was synonymised with Euphanta munda by Melichar (1902) but Medler (1990) incorrectly credited it to Metcalf (1957). Medler (1990) rejected the synonymy and transferred the species to Siphanta Stål. However, Walker (1851) described the vertex as being "arched" which excludes the species from Siphanta which has the vertex characteristically flat. Unfortunately, species of Euphanta also have the vertex flat and are differentiated from species of Siphanta by the arched thorax. Melichar's (1902) synonymy of P. unicolor with E. munda is followed here pending further taxonomic work on the genus Euphanta.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Body pale saffron-colour; head of moderate length; crown conical and almost acute in front, concave on the hind border, with a ridge in the middle which is longer than each side; front flat, a little broader towards the epistoma, straight on each side, bordered by a slight rim, straight where it joins the epistoma, with three distinct ridges, its length much exceeding its breadth; the compartment on each side nearly triangular, hardly concave; epistoma yellow, triangular, very slightly convex; fore-chest longer than the crown, very convex in front, more slightly concave behind, with a ridge in the middle whose length slightly exceeds that of each side; middle-chest about thrice the length of the fore-chest, with three ridges, the side pair slightly curved, inclining to each other and united near the hind border, where there is a cross-suture; abdomen obconical, crested above, a little longer than the chest; legs pale red; hips and thighs pale green; wings broad; fore-wings pale saffron-colour, truncated at the tips which form slightly obtuse angles with the hind borders, the latter have a tuberculated region which is very broad at the base and tapers thence along two-thirds of the length where it terminates; fore border convex, along it a row of oblique parallel often forked cross-veins which terminate at three-fourths of the length, a dot on each space between the veins; longitudinal veins rather numerous, much ramified; cross-veins very numerous, paler than the longitudinal veins; disks of the areolets whitish; hind-wings white. Length of the body 3 lines; of the wings 10 lines (Walker 1851).

Diagnosis References

Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 2 pp. 261-636. [455]

History of changes