Species Distiana andrewsi (Kirby, 1900)

Distiana andrewsi (Kirby), adult female.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Issus andrewsi Kirby, W.F. 1900. Homoptera. pp. 130-138 in Andrews, C.W. (ed.). A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): physical features and geology; with descriptions of the fauna and flora by numerous contributors. London : British Museum (Natural History) xiii 337 pp. [138].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH sex unknown, Christmas Island.

Generic Combinations

• Distiana andrewsi (Kirby, 1900). —
  Metcalf, Z.P. 1952. New names in the Homoptera. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 42: 226-231 [227]
• Moniana andrewsi (Kirby, 1900). —
  Distant, W.L. 1909. Rhynchotal Notes. xlviii. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8(4): 73-87 [76]

Introduction

This is one of two Tongini recorded on Christmas Island. Kirby (1900) stated that he had one specimen which is therefore the holotype by default. Distant (1909), in creating the preoccupied generic name Moniana for the species, noted that the specimen in BMNH was "badly-pinned". Material of the species in ANIC is in better condition although storage in ethanol has removed colour from some specimens.

Distribution

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Long. corp. cum tegm. 6 mm; long. tegm. 5 mm; lat. tegm. 2.5 mm. Testaceous, front black, tricarinate in the middle, the lateral carinae meeting above in an acute angle; the sides are dotted with testaceous, and the summit of the angle is of the same colour. There are also outer carinae, raised at the summit within the eyes; vertex and lower mouthparts testaceous. Legs testaceous, the femora and tibiae more or less black in the middle. Tegmina coriaceous, greenish grey, a little mottled with brown or reddish brown, especially on the clavus and along the borders, wings brownish hyaline (Kirby 1900).

Both species of Tongini on Christmas Island have granulate texture in the cells of the tegmen. They can be differentiated from each other by the shape of the tegmen which in this species is broadest towards its midlength while in Andrewsiella oceanica Izzard, it is broadest at its apex.

Diagnosis References

Kirby, W.F. 1900. Homoptera. pp. 130-138 in Andrews, C.W. (ed.). A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): physical features and geology; with descriptions of the fauna and flora by numerous contributors. London : British Museum (Natural History) xiii 337 pp. [138]

History of changes