Species Austroasca alfalfae (Evans, 1940)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Empoasca alfalfae Evans, J.W. 1940. Some Queensland leafhoppers (Jassoidea: Homoptera) that attack lucerne. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 52: 10-13 [12].

  Type data:

   Holotype QM Ho. 5225 ♂ (coll.: 24.viii.1939, D.O. Atherton), Lockyer, Queensland.

 

Generic Combinations

• Austroasca (Austroasca) alfalfae (Evans, 1940). —
  Lower, H.F. 1952. A revision of Australian species previously referred to the genus Empoasca (Cicadellidae: Homoptera). Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 76(5-6): 190-221 [216]
• Empoasca alfalfae Evans, 1940. —
  Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [262]
• Austroasca alfalfae (Evans, 1940) [Austroasca Lower was synonymised with Empoasca Walsh by Evans (1966) who listed all the included species as new combinations. Ghauri (1967) regarded the two genera as being separate and this was accepted by Evans (1977). However, the reinstated combinations were not listed by either author and first reappeared in Day & Fletcher (1994)]. —
  Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1224]

 

Introduction

This small species has long been a minor pest of lucerne, Medicago sativae L. (Fabaceae) in Australia but it is also known from a range of shrubs and trees in the families Caesalpiniaceae, Juglandaceae and Malvaceae. It is widespread across northern and eastern Australia from Kununurra in NE Western Australia to the Sydney basin in New South Wales.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Nandewar (NAN), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: parenchyma feeder (associated flora: Gossypium hirsutum L. [MALVACEAE] Bollgard Cotton; Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K.Koch [JUGLANDACEAE] Pecan (Pecan); Medicago sativa Linnaeus [FABACEAE]; Cassia obtusifolia Linnaeus [CAESALPINIACEAE]; Cassia venusta F. Muell. [CAESALPINIACEAE]).

 

Diagnosis

General coloration pale yellowish green. Eyes dark brown. Tegmen hyaline yellowish green, apically pale hyaline brown. Length 2.5 mm (Evans 1940).

Lower (1952) provided a comprehensive description of the species (p.216) and illustrated the male genitalia (p.202).

 

ID Keys

Lower 1952: 211–212

 

Diagnosis References

Evans, J.W. 1940. Some Queensland leafhoppers (Jassoidea: Homoptera) that attack lucerne. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 52: 10-13 [12]

Lower, H.F. 1952. A revision of Australian species previously referred to the genus Empoasca (Cicadellidae: Homoptera). Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 76(5-6): 190-221 [202, 216]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
26-Jun-2023	MEMBRACOIDEA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
10-May-2022	CICADOMORPHA	24-May-2023	MODIFIED
02-Jun-2021	AUCHENORRHYNCHA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
05-Dec-2019	CICADELLIDAE Latreille, 1825	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Murray Fletcher
17-Feb-2015	Empoascini Distant, 1908	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Murray Fletcher
13-Oct-2014	Empoascini Distant, 1908	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Murray Fletcher
05-Dec-2019		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED