Species Ceraon tasmaniae (Fairmaire, 1846)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Centrotus tasmaniae Fairmaire, L.M.H. 1846. Revue de la tribu des Membracides. (Suite et fin). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 2(4): 479-531 [513].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown sex, quantity unknown (Coll. Serville, Signoret, Lefebvre), "Nouvelle-Hollande, Manille?".
• Centrotus truncaticornis Walker, F. 1858. Insecta Saundersiana: or characters of undescribed insects in the collection of William Wilson Saunders, Esq. London : British Museum pp. 1-117. [81].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH ♀, Port Phillip, Victoria.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Broomfield, P.S. 1971. A catalogue of the Membracid types (Homoptera : Membracidae) in the British Museum (Natural History). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 25: 327-386 [381].
• Daunus succisus Buckton, G.B. 1903. A Monograph of the Membracidae. Covent Garden : Lovell Reeve & Co. Limited 296 pp., 60 pls. [226].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀, Adelaide, South Australia.
• Ceraon tumescens Buckton, G.B. 1903. A Monograph of the Membracidae. Covent Garden : Lovell Reeve & Co. Limited 296 pp., 60 pls. [229].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) sex, quantity unknown, Tasmania.
• Zanophara leda Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [89].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BPBM ♀ ♂?, quantity unknown (coll.: i.1905), Mittagong, New South Wales
  Comment: Kitching (1976) examined what he said was the holotype ♂. Kirkaldy (1907) only refers to a female in his description. It is likely that there are specimens of both sexes in the type series but, as pointed out by Medler (1987), they are all syntypes despite bearing holotype or allotype labels which are invalid. However, it is possible that Kitching's (1976) reference to a holotype might represent a lectotype designation by default.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Goding, F.W. 1903. A monograph of the Australian Membracidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 28: 2-41 [31] (synonymy of C. truncaticornis)
• Goding, F.W. 1926. Synonymy of Buckton's Australian Membracidae. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 34: 207-208 [207] (synonymy of D. succisus, C. tumescens)
• Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [289] (synonymy of Z. leda)

 

Generic Combinations

• Ceraon tasmaniae (Fairmaire, 1846). —
  Distant, W.L. 1916. Rhynchotal Notes. lx. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8(18): 19-44 [27]
• Zanophara tasmaniae (Fairmaire, 1846). —
  Goding, F.W. 1926. Synonymy of Buckton's Australian Membracidae. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 34: 207-208 [207]

 

Introduction

This elegant brown species is widespread in southeastern Australia. It appears to be associated with the genus Acacia Mill. (Fabaceae).

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Sydney Basin (SB), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder (associated flora: Acacia falciformis DC [FABACEAE] Broad-leaved Hickory).

 

Diagnosis

Brunneo ferrugineus, cornubus validis, vix divaricatis, truncatis.
D'un brun ferrugineux, finement ponctué, couvert d'une fine pubescence dorée, cornes presque parallèles, épaisses, triangulaires à la base, comprimées transversalement dans le haut, obtuses, aiguës extérieurement; partie postérieure du prothorax droite, assez mince, aiguë, échancrée en dessous, à peine plus longue que l'abdomen; écusson petit, blanc; côtés delà poitrine blanchâtres; élytres brunes, plus claires à l'extrémité. (Fairmaire 1846).

A medium-sized, russet brown insect covered in fine, whitish down. Head darker than general body colour; more or less rectangular with sides adjacent to eyes, vertical; slightly narrower than metopidium at base; genal margin sinuate, flexed forward only slightly; clypeus projecting about ½ its length below genal margins: eyes very prominent; ocelli level with centres of eyes. Pronotum: metopidium trapezoidal, not as high as wide, smooth; sagittal carina complete. darker; humeral angles prominent, forming slightly acute angle at tips; suprahumeral horns heavy, long, roughly punctured especially distally, angle of spread and forward projection variable but usually inclined forward only slightly (15–20º) and outwards at about 35º to body, not twisted, tips slightly recurved, distal ½ of horns greatly expanded, about twice as wide distally as basally when viewed from the front, carinate with ridges arising from a single ‘stem’ on anterior surface, branching to 4 or 5 main arms distally with smaller ridges tending to become reticulate on horn tips, tips rounded but meeting anterior carinae along sharp, curved ridge, apical ridge continued as carinae on each side of posterior surface of horns; posterior process tapering, tricarinate, distal ¼ strongly down-curved, touching tegmina all along length, shorter than tips of closed tegmina by about 1/6 length of tegmina, lateral carinae curved up slightly at base disclosing small portion of scutellum. Tegmina hyaline-brown; veins heavy, brown, with double row of short white hairs along length, cells generally suffused with brown; apical limbus sclerotised, dark brown. Sides of thorax and scutellum covered with dense, white hairs. Length ♂ 7.5 ± 0.09, ♀ 8.9 ± 0.08 mm (Kitching 1976).

 

Diagnosis References

Fairmaire, L.M.H. 1846. Revue de la tribu des Membracides. (Suite et fin). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 2(4): 479-531 [513–514]

Kitching, R.L. 1976. The genus Ceraon Buckton (Homoptera: Membracidae) with description of a new species and notes on genitalic nomenclature. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 14: 339-351 [347]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
26-Jun-2023	MEMBRACOIDEA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
26-Jun-2023	MEMBRACIDAE Germar, 1821	24-May-2023	MODIFIED
10-May-2022	CICADOMORPHA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
02-Jun-2021	AUCHENORRHYNCHA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
16-May-2012		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
26-Apr-2012		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED