Genus Birdantis Stål, 1863

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Genus Birdantis Stål, 1863

Compiler and date details

14 February 2011 - Murray J. Fletcher

Birdantis Stål, C. 1863. Hemipterorum exoticorum generum et specierum nonnullarum novarum descriptiones. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 3 1: 571-603 [581].
Type species:
Birdantis decens Stål, 1863 by subsequent designation, see Distant, W.L. 1906. Rhynchotal Notes. xxxviii. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 18: 18-32 [26].
Myrilla Distant, W.L. 1888. An enumeration of the Rhynchota received from Baron von Müller, and collected by Mr Sayer in New Guinea during Mr Cuthbertson's expedition. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1888: 475-489 [487].
Type species:
Myrilla obscura Distant, 1888 by monotypy.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Lallemand, V. 1963. Revision des Fulgoridae (Homoptera). Deuxième partie. Faunes Asiatique et Australienne. Memoires de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. 2nd Series 75: 1-99 [9] (synonymy of Myrilla)

Introduction

Fennah (1977) recognised two subgenera within Birdantis which he separated on the basis that the anterior margin of the vertex was concave with a deep transverse sulcus behind it in subgenus Birdantis but straight without a sulcus in subgenus Myrilla. This arrangement was followed by Nagai & Porion (1996) but Constant (2011) followed Lallemand (1963) in not recognising subgenera on the basis that these characters are somewhat variable and therefore unreliable. The genus was first recorded from Australia on the ASCU website but Constant (2011) provided the first published record of the genus in Australia and described three species, all endemic to far North Queensland.

Distribution

States

Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

IBRA

Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Diagnosis

Caput latum, thorace nonnihil angustius, haud protuberans; vertice transverso, basi apiceque late sinuato; fronte apice utrimque nonnihil ampliata, dein leviter angustata, basi leviter reclinata, latitudine haud longiore, vertice haud vel vix altiore, carinis distinctis destituta; clypeo ecarinato. Rostrum apicem abdominis haud attingens. Antennae breves, articulo secundo transverso. Thorax antice pone verticem leviter rotundato-productus, obtuse unicarinatus, margine basali distincte late sinuato. Scutellum thorace plus duplo longius, tricarinatum. Tegmina subangusta, tota venulis transversis remotis instructa. Alae, basi excepta, transversim venosae. Pedes mediocres, simplices, tibiis posticis normaliter sex-spinosis, basi ipsa inermibus (Stål 1863).

Tête large, mais cependant moins large que le pronotum. Sur le front 2 ou 3 carénes mousses plus ou moins marquées, la médiane pouvant disparaître. Il est à peu près aussi long que large, il s'élargit légèrement vers le bas, et à cet endroit, il est un peu plus large que le clypéus; son bord supérieur dépasse légèrement le bord antérieur du vertex; ce dernier est très concave, environ 4 fois aussi large que long, un peu plus long au milieu que sur les côtés. Clypéus aussi long ou un peu plus long que le front, sans carène; rostre long, pouvant atteindre le pénultième segment abdominal. Elytres longs, 4 fois aussi longs que larges, plus longs que les ailes, réticulés sur toute leur longueur; clavus nettement fermé, mais assez loin en arrière, la suture ne se bifurque pas, le tronc commun de ses 2 nervures n'est pas long, il se termine dans le bord sutural. Sur les tibias postérieurs, de 5 à 6 épines (Lallemand 1963)

ID Keys

Fletcher, M.J. (2005) Illustrated Key to the Genera of the family Fulgoridae described from Australia (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) http://www1.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/fulgor/fulgorid/fulgo00.htm