Species Batracomorphus sontiates (Kirkaldy, 1906)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Eurinoscopus sontiates Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [347].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BPBM ♂ (coll.: viii.1904), Kuranda, Queensland.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1189].
• Batracomorphus pallas Knight, W.J. 1983. The leafhopper genus Batracomorphus (Cicadellidae) in the eastern Oriental and Australian Regions. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 47(2): 27-210 [174].

  Type data:

   Holotype BPBM 12567 ♂ (coll.: viii.1904), Cairns, Queensland
  Comment: It is possible that this specimen was not collected at Cairns but at Kuranda which was indicated by the addition of a hand-written red "K" to printed Cairns labels.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1189] (synonymy of B. pallas)

 

Generic Combinations

• Batrachomorphus sontiates (Kirkaldy, 1906) [incorrect subsequent spelling of Batracomorphus]. —
  Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [206]

 

Introduction

The original syntype series used by Kirkaldy (1906) to establish this species comprised four females, one of which bears a "Type of sontiates" label and one male which bears a "paratype" label. These labels were not validated by publication, as pointed out by Medler (1987), and all five species remained as syntypes until Day & Fletcher (1994) designated the male as lectotype. This allowed the species to be characterised for the first time based on male genitalia and this revealed that it was the same species as Knight's (1983) B. pallas. Knight (1983) regarded a number of Kirkaldy's species as nomina dubia on the basis that the specimen bearing the holotype label is a female. Since these labels are not valid, all Kirkaldy's specimens remain as syntypes and any male syntypes are available to be designated as lectotype thereby establishing the identities of the species. Many of these species may have been described as new by Knight (1983).

 

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

Qld: Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

 

Diagnosis

Sparsely freckled, otherwise little related to lentiginosus, being more elongate and narrowed. Pale testaceous, more or less tinged with pink or greenish or yellowish green, a longitudinal narrow testaceous line on vertex, pronotum and scutellum. Ocelli red. Frons and lorae much as in the type. Males rather smaller and darker. Female: Last pleurite very slightly obtusely produced in the middle, pygofers longer than in the type, with short bristly hairs. Length: 4 7/8–5¼ mm. (Kirkaldy 1906).

Male pygophore processes slender, directed posteriorly to near midlength then turned abruptly mesally then laterally, apex acute. Subgenital plates as in lavinia. Styles with apical process elongate, slender, of approximately uniform width, tapering distally to acute upturned apex; ventral margin with a small spine subapically and another, sometimes present, just basad of midlength. Aedeagus with shaft slender, directed dorsally and curving anterodorsally; a pair of slender ventrally directed, divergent processes supapically on posterior margin, extending to lower margin of gonopore; gonopore extending to midlength of shaft; anterior incision short (Knight 1983, as B. pallas).

 

ID Keys

Knight 1983: 37–50 (as B. pallas)

 

Diagnosis References

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [347]

Knight, W.J. 1983. The leafhopper genus Batracomorphus (Cicadellidae) in the eastern Oriental and Australian Regions. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 47(2): 27-210 [174]

 

General References

Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1189]

Knight, W.J. 1983. The leafhopper genus Batracomorphus (Cicadellidae) in the eastern Oriental and Australian Regions. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 47(2): 27-210 [206] (nomen dubium)

Medler, J.T. 1987. Types of Flatidae (Homoptera) XI. Taxonomic notes on Kirkaldy Types in the Bishop Museum, with illustrations of the genitalia of male lectotypes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 27: 115-125 [115]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
05-Dec-2019		02-Dec-2011	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)