Species Edwardsiana froggatti (Baker, 1925)

Edwardsiana froggatti (Baker), adult.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Typhlocyba froggatti Baker, C.F. 1925. Nomenclatorial notes on the Jassoidea IV. Philippine Journal of Science. Section D. General Biology, Ethnology and Anthropology 27: 537 [537] [replacement name; for Typhlocyba australia (Froggatt)].
• Empoasca australis Froggatt, W.W. 1918. The appleleaf jassid (Empoasca australis). Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 29: 568-570 [568] [junior homonym; of Typhlocyba australis Walsh, 1862].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ASCU ♂ (coll.: 23.iii.1918), Binalong, New South Wales.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1229].
• Typhlocyba xanthippe McAtee, W.L. 1926. Revision of the American leafhoppers of the Jassid genus Typhlocyba. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 68(18): 1-47 [14].

  Type data:

   Holotype BALL ♂ (coll.: 22.vi.1924), New York, NY, USA.
• Typhlocyba oxyacanthae Ribaut, H. 1931. Espèces nouvelles du groupe Typhlocyba rosae (L.) (Homoptera-Typhlocybidae). Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse 61: 333-342 [334].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) MNHP sex, quantity unknown (on hawthorn and plum), Saint Béat, Haut Garonne, France.
• Empoa (Typhlocyba) malini DeLong, D.M. 1926. A new and important species of leafhopper injuring apple in Ohio. Journal of Economic Entomology 19: 469-470 [469].

  Type data:

   Holotype DELO ♂ (coll.: 1925, Prof. J.S. Houser, on apple), Columbus, Ohio.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• McAtee, W.L. 1927. Names of apple leafhoppers. Journal of Economic Entomology 20: 237-238 [237] (synonymy of E. (T.) malini)
• Dumbleton, L.J. 1934. The apple leafhopper (Typhlocyba australis Frogg.). New Zealand Journal of Science 16: 30-38 [30] (synonymy of T. xanthippe, T. oxyacanthae)

Generic Combinations

• Typhlocyba australis (Froggatt, 1918). —
  Myers, J.G. 1921. The Australian Apple Leafhopper (Typhlocyba froggatti Frogg.). Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 46(4): 473-474 [473]
• Edwardsiana froggatt (Baker, 1925). —
  China, W.E. 1950. A checklist of the British Hemiptera-Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 86: 243-251 [248]

Introduction

The Apple Leafhopper is a pest of the pome fruit industry, causing chlorotic mottling and leaf drop in apple and pear orchards. E. froggatti is known as the canary fly in Tasmania because of its bright yellow colouring. Traditional use of broad-spectrum insecticides for codling moth control in Australia has kept apple leafhopper in check as well, but the reduction in use of such environmentally harmful insecticides in favour of more targetted IPM for control of major pests is leading to a resurgence of problems with secondary pests such as apple leafhoppers. E. froggatti is originally a European species probably introduced to Australia on apple or pear trees in the early years of European settlement. Nast (1972) proposed that the species was a synonym of Edwardsiana crataegi (Douglas). This synonymy appears to have been based on a publication by Günthart (1971) who showed that the two forms were capable of interbreeding in the laboratory. However, while males of E. froggatti were able to couple with females of E. crataegi, the longer apical aedeagal appendages of E. crataegi meant that the reverse combination was impossible. It is probable that the interbreeding that was observed was a laboratory artefact and that such behaviour may not occur naturally. The synonymy was not accepted by most subsequent authors.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Tas, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Jarrah Forest (JF), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian South East (TSE)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: parenchyma feeder (associated flora: Malus spp. [ROSACEAE]), pest (associated flora: Malus [ROSACEAE] apple).

Diagnosis

General colour rich yellow with a slight greenish tint which later fades out after death; the tips of the fore pair of wings (elytra) lightest; hind wings white with rich opaline reflections in strong light; eyes deep reddish brown; scutellum bearing two angular, reddish brown blotches on the front margin; undersurface and legs pale yellow. General form slender, tapering to the tip of the abdomen; wings folded closely down the sides of the body; the front of the head projecting beyond the eyes, rounded in front; the face turned downward with the rostrum under the head reaching to the base of the second pair of legs; eyes large, with the apical portion of the antennae produced into a long hair-like bristle. The legs long, well adapted for jumping; the tibiae of the hind legs furnished on the under margins with two rows of stout spines. Length variable from 4 to 5 millimetres (Froggatt 1918).

Diagnosis References

Froggatt, W.W. 1918. The appleleaf jassid (Empoasca australis). Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 29: 568-570 [569–570]

General References

Günthart, H. 1971. Kleinzikaden (Typhlocybinae) an Obstbäumen in der Schweiz. Schweizerischen Zeitschrift für Obst- und Weinbau 107: 285–306

Nast, J. 1972. Palaearctic Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera): an Annotated Check-list. Warsaw : Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology: pp. 1-550. [276]

Common Name References

Froggatt, W.W. 1918. The appleleaf jassid (Empoasca australis). Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 29: 568-570 [568] (Apple-leaf Jassid)

History of changes