Species Drabescus samoanus Osborn, 1934

Drabescus samoanus Osborn, adult.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Drabescus samoanus Osborn, H. 1934. Hemiptera. Cicadellidae (Jassidae). Pt II. Insects of Samoa and Other Samoan Terrestrial Arthropoda 4: 163-192 [176].

  Type data:

   Holotype BPBM ♀ (900–1200 ft, Kellers. Zhang & Webb (1996) refer to a male holotype but Osborn (1934) states that the holotype is a female), Tutuila, Samoa.
• Drabescus palmerstoni Evans, J.W. 1972. Characteristics and relationships of the Penthimiinae and some new genera and new species from New Guinea and Australia; also new species of Drabescinae from New Guinea and Australia. Pacific Insects 14(1): 169-200 [199].

  Type data:

   Holotype QM T7000 ♂ (coll.: 12.xii.1966, B. Cantrell), Henrietta Creek, Palmerston National Park, Queensland.
• Drabescus heroni Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [221].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM ♂ (coll.: xii.1961, H.G. Cogger), Heron Island, Queensland.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Zhang, Y. & Webb, M.D. 1996. A revised classification of the Asian and Pacific selenocephaline leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, London (Entomology) 65(1): 1-103 [25] (synonymy of D. palmerstoni and D. heroni )

Introduction

This is the only member of the subtribe Drabescina present on mainland Australia, recorded along the eastern coastline of Queensland from Cape York Peninsula to Heron Island in the south east. The species is also present in Samoa and New Guinea.

Distribution

States

Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Head distinctly wider than pronotum; eyes large; vertex broad, depressed, angulate, one fourth longer at middle than at eye; margin elevated, ocelli minute on extreme edge half-way from eye to middle; front depressed at base, scarcely longer than broad, sides nearly parallel from antennae to abruptly contracted apex; clypeus long, narrow, widening to apex and with strong median keel; lorae large, broad, nearly touching border of cheek; cheek depressed bleow antennae; lower part flattened, margin deeply sinuate below the eye; pronotum twice as long as vertex, hind border concave, disc transversely minutely striate, scutellum minutely granulate, elytral veins punctate except in apical cells; claval and discal areoles rugose. Female, last ventral segment as long as preceding, slightly sinuate and with a shallow notch at middle of hind border. Male valve small, plates small, triangular, tips acute. Dark brown, infuscate in typical example, vertex fuscous, pronotum yellowish on anterior border ranging in extreme forms of males to entire pronotum and scutellum; scutellum pale yellowish; elytra brownish subhyaline, the veins dotted with yellow and a paler transverse band before apex of clavus. Base of front and eyes fuscous; a yellowish band crossing lower pat of front and cheeks below eyes. Clypeus and lorae fuscous. Beneath dark brown, a yellow or whitish spot on propleura. Length: female 9 mm; male 7 mm (Osborn 1934).

Diagnosis References

Osborn, H. 1934. Hemiptera. Cicadellidae (Jassidae). Pt II. Insects of Samoa and Other Samoan Terrestrial Arthropoda 4: 163-192 [176–177]

History of changes