Species Siphanta acuta (Walker, 1851)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Poeciloptera acuta 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. [448].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH ♀ (presented by F. Walker), New Holland.
  Paralectotype(s) BMNH sex unknown (from Mr. Walker's collection), New Holland; BMNH ♀, undetermined; BMNH sex unknown, undetermined
  Comment: Walker (1851) indicated that there were male and female syntypes. Medler (1990) could only find two females in BMNH as above and designated them lectotype and paralectotype.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Medler, J.T. 1990. Types of Flatidae (Homoptera) XIV. Walker and Distant types in the British Museum. Oriental Insects 24: 127–195 [131].
• Poeciloptera cupido 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. [453].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH Type 589-37 ♂ (holotype by monotypy), locality unknown.
• Cromna elegans Costa, A. 1864. Descrizione de taluni insetti stranieri all'Europa. Annuario del Museo Zoologico della Reale Università de Napoli 2: 139-151 [149].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, MZUN sex, quantity unknown, Australia?.

  Secondary source:

   Melichar, L. 1902. Monographie der Acanaloniiden und Flatiden (Homoptera) (Fortsetzung). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums in Wien 17: 1-253 [36].
• Phalainesthes schauinslandi Kirkaldy, G.W. 1899. Eine neue Hawaii'sche Fulgoriden-Gattung und Art. Entomologische Nachrichten. Dresden 25: 359 [359].

  Type data:

   Holotype UMBB ♀ (coll.: 26.x.1896, Schauinsland), Hilo, Hawaii.

 

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 Poeciloptera cupido Walker)
• Kirkaldy, G.W. 1902. Hemiptera. Fauna Hawaiiensis 3(2): 93-174 [117] (synonymy of Phalainesthes schauinslandi Kirkaldy)
• Melichar, L. 1902. Monographie der Acanaloniiden und Flatiden (Homoptera) (Fortsetzung). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums in Wien 17: 1-253 [36] (synonymy of Cromna elegans Costa. This synonymy is doubtful since Costa (1864) provided a figure showing a broad coloured margin to the wing with a dark triangular marking just beyond the apex of the clavus and this colouring is more typical of S. gregaria or S. hackeri)

 

Generic Combinations

• Siphanta acuta (Walker, 1851). —
  Stål, C. 1862. Bidrag till Rio Janeiro-traktens Hemipterfauna II. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Academiens Nya Handlingar, Stockholm 3(6): 1-75 [69]

 

Introduction

The green planthopper is one of the most familiar planthoppers in Australia and is distributed along the eastern coast and adjacent slopes and ranges from the wet tropics of North Queensland to Tasmania as well as in the SW of Western Australia and two sites in South Australia. It is also found on Norfolk Island and has been introduced to New Zealand, Hawaii, the west coast of North America and South Africa. It is highly adaptable, as its distribution indicates, and is known from a wide range of native and exotic plant species (Fletcher 1985: 4). Its life history was described by Myers (1922) in New Zealand and Muir & Kershaw (1912) described its embryonic development in Hawaii. This is the nominal species of the acuta group which includes 16 species of Siphanta (Fletcher 1985: 7).

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Hawaii.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Ranges (CR), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Jarrah Forest (JF), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder, polyphagous.

 

Diagnosis

acuta Group. Head produced medially in front of eyes so that frons apically convex and vertex at least half as long as wide. Frons with three short longitudinal indicated near apex. Tegmen triangular with apical angle rounded and sutural angle right-angled or acutely produced dorsally. M1+2 branched level with apex of clavus. Coloration green or grey-green, often fading to yellow in dried specimens. Males usually duller than females. Apex of head, apices of fore- and mid-tibiae and all tarsi and often lateral angles of frons marked with red. Tegmen with minute granulations in all cells leaving bare circular spot in centre of each cell. Costal margin pallid, then narrowly red around apical margin and claval margin to apex of clavus. Individuals may lack all red coloration and show other variation.
S. acuta Pale olive green to green. Tegminal granules concolorous with ground colour of tegmen. Male sometimes with small infuscation at first forking of M1+2. Head with frontal carinae sometimes obsolescent; anterior margin of vertex evenly rounded. Tegmen with prominence of sutural angle somewhat variable but always forming acute angle. Male pygofer with posterodorsal corner extended to form short blunt point. Paramere rounded apically with broad, obliquely truncate process perpendicular to dorsal margin of paramere and mounted at approximate midlength. Female ventral valves broadly triangular with pilose area ventral. Second valvulae gap narrowly U-shaped (Fletcher 1985).

 

ID Keys

Fletcher 1985: 4–6
Fletcher, M.J. (2005). Illustrated Key to the species of the genus Siphanta Stål (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Flatidae) http://www1.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/fulgor/flatid/siphanta/siph00.htm

 

Diagnosis References

Fletcher, M.J. 1985. Revision of the genus Siphanta Stål (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Flatidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 110: 1-94 [7–8]

 

General References

Fletcher, M.J. 1985. Revision of the genus Siphanta Stål (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Flatidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 110: 1-94 [4]

Muir, F. & Kershaw, J.C. 1912. The development of the mouthparts in the Homoptera, with observations on the embryo of Siphanta. Psyche (Cambridge) 19: 77–89

Myers, J.G. 1922. Life-history of Siphanta acuta (Walk.), the large green plant-hopper. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology 5: 256–263

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
03-Mar-2011		03-Mar-2011	MOVED
01-Mar-2011		01-Mar-2011	MOVED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)