Subfamily Eurymelinae Amyot & Serville, 1843

Museums

Regional Maps

• Eurymélides Amyot, C.J.B. & Audinet-Serville, J.G. 1843. Histoire Naturelle des Insects. Hémiptères. Paris : Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Rue Hautefeuille 10 B13 676 pp. [554].

  Type genus:

   Eurymela Le Peletier & Serville, 1825.

• Xue, Q., Dietrich, C.H. & Zhang, Y. 2020. Phylogeny and classification of the leafhopper subfamily Eurymelinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) inferred from molecules and morphology. Systematic Entomology 45: 687-702

Introduction

The eurymelids have long been considered a family in their own right, first suggested by China (1926), based on a unique combination of morphological and biological features. The morphological features include the absence of Rs with M1+2 extending to the apex of the tegmen, the lack of a connection between the base of the aedeagus and the basal connective, the aedeagal apodeme articulating dorsally with the base of the anal segment and the hind tibiae with one row of spines mounted on prominent bases or spurs (Evans 1966). Biological features include adults and nymphs being gregarious and associated with ants. The Pogonoscopini take this to its extreme, being inquilines living by day in the ants' nests and feeding at night with their ant hosts protecting them (Day & Pullen 1999). Unlike most other cicadellid groups, the nymphs of eurymelines, with the apparent exception of species of Bakeriana Evans, do not jump but run sideways around the branch when they are disturbed. This may be a secondary feature associated with ant attendance. Recent phylogenetic analyses based on molecular data, however, have suggested that these features are derived and, although they are quite distinct as a group, they are aligned more closely with other cicadellids such as the Idiocerinae and Macropsinae which share the facial ocelli (Dietrich et al. 2001).

Diagnosis

Ce groupe se distingue des suivants par une fête coupée carrément et ne formant qu'un rebord étroit au delà des yeux , et par un faciès particulier (Amyot & Serville 1843).

Eurymelids may be recognised immediately by the characterisitic face of their heads. This is quite unlike those of most cicadellids, with the exception of a few species comprised in the subfamily Idiocerinae. The pronotum is never enlarged. The mesonotum has paired median longitudinal unsclerotised areas and is apically acute. The tegmina of those species which have simple, as apart from reticulate venation, have three distinguishing features. These are, that R1 has usually more than 2 branches; Rs would seem to be lacking and M1+2 extends to the apex of the tegmen. Some cicadellids also have R1 with more than 2 branches and in a few groups Rs is lacking, but in none is M1+2 more than a crossvein basally, being distally incorporated into the same veins as Rs. The hind tibiae are quadrilateral in section and have one, or a few, spines mounted on prominent bases. They may, as well, have additional unmounted spines. In the male genitalia, the aedeagus, which has a large basal apodeme, is situated dorsally just below the anal segment and lacks any association with the basal connective that lies between the paired parameres (Evans 1966).

ID Keys

Fletcher, M.J. (2009 and updates). Key to the leafhoppers and treehoppers of Australia and neighbouring areas (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). http://www1.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/leafhop/index.html

Diagnosis References

Amyot, C.J.B. & Audinet-Serville, J.G. 1843. Histoire Naturelle des Insects. Hémiptères. Paris : Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Rue Hautefeuille 10 B13 676 pp. [554–555]

Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [29]

General References

China, W.E. 1926. A new subfamily of Bythoscopidae (Jassoidea, Homoptera). Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1926: 289-296 [289]

Day, M.F. & Pullen, K.R. 1999. Leafhoppers in ant nests: Some aspects of the behaviour of Pogonoscopini (Hemiptera: Eurymelidae). Victorian Naturalist 116: 12-15

Dietrich, C.H., Rakitov, R.A., Holmes, J.L. & Black W.C. 2001. Phylogeny of the major lineages of Membracoidea (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) based on 28S rDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 18(2): 293–305 [303]

Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [29]

Xue, Q., Dietrich, C.H. & Zhang, Y. 2020. Phylogeny and classification of the leafhopper subfamily Eurymelinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) inferred from molecules and morphology. Systematic Entomology 45: 687-702

History of changes