Species Austroasca viridigrisea (Paoli, 1936)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Empoasca viridigrisea Paoli, G. 1936. Descizione di alcune nuove specie di Empoasca (Hemipt. Homopt.) e osservazioni su specie note. Memorie della Società Entomologica Italiana 15: 5-24 [12].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂ (coll.: 20.x.1931, D.O. Atherton, on tomato), Bowen, Queensland.

 

Generic Combinations

• Austroasca (Austroasca) viridigrisea (Paoli, 1936). —
  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 [212]
• Empoasca viridigrisea Paoli, 1936. —
  Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [264]
• Austroasca viridigrisea (Paoli, 1936). —
  Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1224] (Austroasca Lower was synonymised with Empoasca Walsh by Evans (1966) who listed all the included species. 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))

 

Introduction

The vegetable leafhopper is a pest of leafy vegetables and also attacks beans, carrots, potato, lucerne and non-irrigated tomatoes. Lower (1952) provides a list of plant species on which this leafhopper has been found feeding and breeding and, in addition to crop plants, it also breeds on a range of weed species. It causes distortion to the leaves and stunting of new growth. It is found in all states of Australia and on Lord Howe Island. Its distribution is probably even more widespread than is shown here.

 

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: parenchyma feeder, pest, polyphagous.

 

Diagnosis

Corpo di color verde grigio nel secco colle elitre quasi incolore; occhi molto pallidi. Testa col vertice arrotondato nel ♂ (nella ♀?) lungo appena più che la metà della larghezza fra gli occhi (7 : 12) col margine posteriore assai incavato. X segmento addominale assai breve, colla faecia ventrale cosparsa, di brevissime spine riunite a gruppetti in forma di pettini; processi del tubo anale brevissimi, a forma di piccolo bottone, debolmente chitinizzati; pene fortemente curvato nella porzione terminale libera. Lamine genitali brevi e tozze, colle setole ensiformi de sviluppo moderato; sul margine superiore un gruppo abbastanza numeroso (12 circa) de setole lunghe e per il restante ornato di setole brevi; faccia esterna con peli di mediocre lunghezza, circa metà che la larghezza della lamina. Stili superiori molto ridetti, appiattiti, larghi alla base, indi rapidamente restringentisi e curvati, acuminati all'apice. Stili inferiori ingrossati alla base, indi gradatamente assottigliati e ricurvi con 4–5 setole laterali e 8–9 denti all'apice. Gli apodemi addominali sembra che manchino, poichè nel'unico preparato che ho potuto fare, e che comprendeva l'addome quasi intero, non ve ne era traccia. Lunghezza del corpo del ♂ (nel secco) 1.9–2 mm, colle ali 2.8–2.9 mm (Paoli 1936).

General coloration green with white markings. Face of head yellowish green with a variable, irregular white stripe posteriorly and an outwardly directed white band below each ocellus. Crown of even length, emerald green with a narrow irregular, median, white stripe and two pairs of lateral ones. Scutellum emerald green with a median regular-shaped longitudinal marking; lateral margins narrowly white. Tegmen, proximal four fifths yellowish, opaque; apical fifth brownish to translucent; veins clearly visible only in latter area. Length ♂ 3.8 mm, ♀ 3.9 mm (Evans 1966).

Lower (1952) provides a comprehensive description (pp.212–213) and figures of the male genitalia (p.194).

 

ID Keys

Lower 1952: 211–212

 

Diagnosis References

Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [265]

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 [194, 212–213]

Paoli, G. 1936. Descizione di alcune nuove specie di Empoasca (Hemipt. Homopt.) e osservazioni su specie note. Memorie della Società Entomologica Italiana 15: 5-24 [12–13]

 

Common Name References

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 [212] (Vegetable Jassid)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
05-Dec-2019		26-Apr-2012	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)