Family CIXIIDAE Spinola, 1839

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cixioides Spinola, M. 1839. Essai sur les Fulgorelles, sous-tribu de la tribu des Cicadaires, ordre des Ryngotes. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 8: 133-337 [204].

  Type genus:

   Cixius Latreille, 1804.

Introduction

The Cixiidae are one of the more generalised families of Fulgoromorpha. An excellent summary of current knowledge of the family was provided by Holzinger, et al. (2002), including morphology, classification and ecology. Adults are known to be phloem feeders and some non-Australian species are well known vectors of serious phloem-resident phytoplasma diseases in grapes, palms and flax. However, no Australian species has yet to be positively identified as a vector of disease. As with the Achilidae, some nymphs are suspected to be fungal feeders but it is unknown whether this is uniform or even widespread throughout the family. Holzinger et al. (2002) state that the nymphs live underground, feeding on the roots of their host plants, but they acknowledge that fungivory is known in the family. Nymphs of Cixiini have been found in New South Wales under logs surrounded by fungal hyphae. The Australian fauna was not well known until Birgit Löcker undertook her PhD project at the University of Sydney and revised most of the tribes in a series of papers from 2006. Up to 90% of some tribes were found to be undescribed.

Diagnosis

Cixiids are mainly brown species with macropterous glassy wings held roof-like over the body when at rest although the species of Aka White and Yanganaka Löcker have short convex tegmina which are more or less curved around the apex of the body. Apex of second hind tarsomere concave with row of black tipped spines. Apex of hind tarsomeres, occasionally with platellae replacing spines. Clavus closed distally with the claval veins lacking granules and entering the hind margin of the tegmen before the apex of the clavus. Apical segment of rostrum much longer than wide.

ID Keys

https://idtools.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/fulgor/index.html

General References

Holzinger, W.E., Emeljanov, A.F. & Kammerlander, I. 2002. The family Cixiidae Spinola 1839 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) — a review. Denisia 4(176): 113-138

History of changes