Species Putoniessa rivularis (Walker, 1851)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Bythoscopus rivularis Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [865].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) BMNH 1 ♀ & 1 lacking abdomen (from Dr Hooker's collection), Tasmania; BMNH 1 lacking abdomen (from Mr Lambert's collection), New Holland
  Comment: Stevens (1994) stated that three specimens in BMNH match the type data from Van Diemen's Land (=Tasmania) representing more than one species. He was therefore unable to determine which two of these specimens were the two refered to by Walker (1851).

Generic Combinations

• Putoniessa rivularis (Walker, 1851). —
  Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [50]

Introduction

This species was based on a series of specimens which are currently unidentifiable to species since they are either female or lack the abdomen. Evans (1937) synonymised Bythoscopus dorsalis Walker and B. repletus Walker under this name and Evans (1966) synonymised Putoniessa dignissima Kirkaldy with it as well. Stevens (1994) regarded P. rivularis as a nomen dubium because of the lack of males in the type series and therefore was unable to support Evans's synonymies. He therefore reinstated B. dorsalis, as Putoniessa dorsalis (Walker), with B. repletus as a synonym and reinstated P. dignissima.

Distribution

States

Tasmania

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Ferrugineus, nigro varius; scutum nigrum; scutellum nigra bimaculatum; pectus piceo varium; abdominis dorsum nigrum; alae anticae albidae,fusco variae; alae posticae subcinereae, apice fuscae.
Pale ferruginous, minutely mottled with black; head extremely short, as broad as the chest, convex and almost semicircular in front, very concave along the hind border; its length above not more than one-twelfth of its breadth; crown punctured, transversely striated, rather longer on each side than in the middle; face roughly punctured, almost flat, slightly striated on each side; shield black, transversely striated; scutcheon with a black spot on each side of the fore border; breast ferruginous, partly pitchy; abdomen black above, pale ferruginous beneath; legs ferruginous; fore-wings dingy white, thickly interspersed with brown, which here and there forms streaks including whitish dots; hind-wings slightly gray, brown towards the tips. Length of the body 5 lines; of the wings 8 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. 3 pp. 637-907. [865]

General References

Evans, J.W. 1937. Australian Leafhoppers (Jassoidea, Homoptera). Part 5. — Euscelidae (in part). Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1936: 51-71 [64]

Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [119]

Stevens, M.M. 1994. Taxonomy, cladistics and biogeography of the Australian genus Putoniessa Kirkaldy (Hemiptera: Cicadelloidea: Cicadellidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1037-1115 [1070–1071]

History of changes