Species Cofana spectra (Distant, 1908)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Tettigoniella spectra Distant, W.L. 1908. Rhynchota. — Vol. IV. Homoptera and Appendix. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma 4: 1-501 [211] [replacement name; for Tettigonia albida Signoret, 1853].
• Tettigonia albida Signoret, V.A. 1853. Revue Iconographique des Tettigonides. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 3 1: 13-40, 323-374, 661-688 [663] [junior homonym; misidentification of Tettigonia albida Walker, 1851: 767].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH ♀, quantity unknown (Localities interpreted by Metcalf (1968) as Cape of Good Hope (Cap Bon Esperance), India, Senegambia and Australia), Cap. B.E. Ind.: Or. Senegambie et N. Holl.

 

Generic Combinations

• Cicadella spectra (Distant, 1908). —
  Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [145]
• Cofana spectra (Distant, 1908). —
  Young, D.A. 1979. A review of the leafhopper genus Cofana (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 81: 1-21 [7]

 

Introduction

The white leafhopper is very widespread from Africa through Asia to the Pacific. it is quite common across the tropical parts of Australia from the North Kimberley in Western Australia to the wet tropics of North Queensland but has also been recorded as far south in eastern Australia as the Sydney region, Orange in the Central Tablelands and the South East Highlands of New South Wales. It is a grass feeder and is reported to be a pest of rice in Asia.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Pacific islands.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Nandewar (NAN), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pine Creek (PCK), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: vector (associated flora: [POACEAE]), xylem feeder.

 

Diagnosis

General coloration pale greenish white. Face of head pale yellowish, medially brown; muscle impressions distinct; three large black spots posteriorly between the eyes. Crown of head concolorous with the face, also with three black spots, posteriorly, between the eyes; two lateral dark markings may surround the ocelli, or be absent. Pronotum and scutellum pale greenish-yellow. Tegmen, very pale hyaline greenish white. Veins usually brown. Length, ♂, 7–8.3 mm; ♀, 9–11 mm (Evans 1966).

 

ID Keys

Young 1979: 9–11

 

Diagnosis References

Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [145]

Young, D.A. 1979. A review of the leafhopper genus Cofana (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 81: 1-21 [9–11]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
26-Jun-2023	MEMBRACOIDEA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
10-May-2022	CICADOMORPHA	24-May-2023	MODIFIED
02-Jun-2021	AUCHENORRHYNCHA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
05-Dec-2019	CICADELLIDAE Latreille, 1825	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Murray Fletcher
05-Dec-2019		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
05-Dec-2019		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED