Species Siphanta hebes (Walker, 1851)

Siphanta hebes (Walker), adult

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Poeciloptera hebes 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. [464].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (from Pamplin's collection), New South Wales.
• Poeciloptera atomaria Walker, F. 1858. Insecta Saundersiana: or characters of undescribed insects in the collection of William Wilson Saunders, Esq. London : British Museum pp. 1-117. [56].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀, Van Diemens Land
  Comment: Fletcher (1985) recognised a specimen as a holotype female. However, the original description does not mention females but indicates that the description was based on a male. Medler (1990) designated the female referred to as the holotype by Fletcher (1985) as the lectotype and recognised a second specimen, lacking head and abdomen, as possibly the male referred to by Walker (1858). If this specimen were indeed a male, then this is a holotype by monotypy since a female cannot be part of the type series. However, it is also possible that Walker (1858) erred in referring to the specimen as a male. ICZN Article 74.6 would then credit Fletcher (1985) as having designated a lectotype by default.
• Siphanta breviceps Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [454].

  Type data:

   Holotype BPBM ♀ (coll.: vi.1904), Bundaberg, Queensland
  Comment: Fletcher (1985: 14) referred to a holotype from Brisbane, Queensland in BPBM but the original description in Kirkaldy (1906: 454) lists only Bundaberg as the distribution of the species. The specimen from Brisbane is therefore excluded from the type series. Medler (1987: 120) confirms the lack of a specimen from Bundaberg in BPBM and also lists the Brisbane specimen as the holotype, implying that he believed Kirkaldy's original published locality record was an error for Brisbane.
• Siphanta stigma Distant, W.L. 1910. Rhynchotal Notes. L. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8 5: 297-322 [304].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀, Australia.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Fletcher, M.J. 1985. Revision of the genus Siphanta Stål (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Flatidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 110: 1-94 [14] (synonymy of Poeciloptera atomaria Walker, Siphanta breviceps Kirkaldy and S. stigma Distant)

Generic Combinations

• Siphanta hebes (Walker, 1851). —
  Fletcher, M.J. 1985. Revision of the genus Siphanta Stål (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Flatidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 110: 1-94 [14]

Introduction

This is a common species in eastern Australia although it has been confused with S. acuta (Walker) in collections. In fact, S. hebes was long regarded as a synonym of S. acuta until Fletcher (1985) demonstrated that it was possible to distinguish females based on the shape of the inner margins of the female second valvulae, a feature he termed the "second valvulae gap". This made it possible to align female holotypes with their correct names which removed hebes from synonymy with acuta and made it a senior synonym of S. atomaria (Walker). The species tends to be slightly smaller than S. acuta but the range of variation in both species makes it impossible to use this as a distinguishing feature. The male genitalia, particularly the shape of the dorsal process of the pygofer (which can usually be seen without dissecting the genitalia), is the most reliable method of distinguishing the two species. S. hebes may be involved in citrus dieback in New South Wales.

Distribution

States

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

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, Tas, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Flinders (FLI), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

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. hebes. Tegminal granules concolorous with tegminal colour. Males often with infuscation around first branching of M1+2. Frons with three short carinae near base; vertex front margin evenly rounded, occasionally slightly prominent medially. Tegmen with apical angle rounded; sutural angle rightangled in males but usually more prominent dorsally in females. Male pygofer process short, recurved point. Paramere process elongate, pointed apically, curving slightly anteriad from near apex of paramere. Female third valvulae broadly triangular with pilose area ventral. Second valvulae gap wide, shallow, valvulae divergent to apices (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 [14–15]

History of changes