Genus Phaconeura Kirkaldy, 1906

Phaconeura froggatti Kirkaldy, type species of Phaconeura.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Phaconeura Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [427].

  Type species:

   Phaconeura froggatti Kirkaldy, 1906 by original designation.

Introduction

This genus is well represented in Australia with six cavernicolous species in Queensland and Western Australia and six above-ground species. The cavernicolous species show a range of adaptation to underground life, at least four species being obligate troglobites (Fennah 1973; Hoch 1990, 1993). These species feed on roots of plants which penetrate into the cave systems. Elsewhere, cavernicolous Meenoplidae are known from Western Samoa (one species of Suva Kirkaldy) and the Canary Islands (one species of Meenoplus Fieber) (Hoch 1993).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

Wet Tropics (WT) ; NSW, Qld, Vic, WA: Carnarvon (CAR), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT) ; WA: Swan Coastal Plain (SWA)

Diagnosis

The epigean species of the two Australian genera are easily distinguished by the front of the head. In Nisia there is no median carina although a vague indication of one may be discernible at the very base. In Phaconeura, there is a distinct median carina throughout most of the length of the frons. This feature, however, is not reliable for cave-adapted species which may have this carina obsolescent although whether this is due to cave-adaptation is unclear. At present, there are no known cavernicolous species of Nisia.

ID Keys

Woodward 1957: 58–59
http://www1.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/fulgor/meenoplidae/meen0.htm

Diagnosis References

Woodward, T.E. 1957. Studies on Queensland Hemiptera. Part II. Meenoplidae (Fulgoroidea). University of Queensland Papers, Department of Entomology 1(4): 57-70 [58–59]

General References

Fennah, R.G. 1973. Three new cavernicolous species of Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from Mexico and Western Australia. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 86(38): 439-446

Hoch, H. 1990. Cavernicolous Meenoplidae of the genus Phaconeura (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) from Australia. Occasional Papers of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum 30: 188-203

Hoch, H. 1993. A new troglobitic planthopper species (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Meenoplidae) from Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 16: 393-398

History of changes