Species Gelastissus albolineatus Kirkaldy, 1906

Gelastissus albolineatus, holotype male of G. histrionicus

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Gelastissus albolineatus Kirkaldy, holotype female

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Gelastissus albolineatus Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [441].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BPBM sex, quantity unknown (coll.: vii-viii.1904, from grasses on damp ground, Koebele), Cairns, Queensland.
• Gelastissus histrionicus Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [442].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BPBM sex, quantity unknown (coll.: viii.1904, from grasses on dry ground), Cairns, Queensland.
• Gelastissus suffusus Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [442] [synonymised as G. histrionicus var. suffusus by Kirkaldy (1913)].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BPBM sex, quantity unknown (coll.: viii.1904), Cairns, Queensland.

  Secondary source:

   Kirkaldy, G.W. 1913. On some new species of leafhoppers. Part 1. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 12: 7-27 [25].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Kirkaldy, G.W. 1913. On some new species of leafhoppers. Part 1. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 12: 7-27 [25] (Synonymy of G. suffusus, as G. histrionicus var. suffusus.)
• Gnezdilov, V.M. 2008. Revision of the genus Gelastissus Kirkaldy (Hemiptera, Fulgoroidea, Caliscelidae). Zootaxa 1727: 22-28 [23] (Synonymy of G. histrionicus.)

Introduction

This tiny wingless planthopper was originally described from Cairns, North Queensland but has subsequently been collected at Biroh in the Indonesian province of West Papua, near the border with Papua New Guinea, and at Pearl Beach, N. of Sydney. It is presumably therefore distributed along the southern coast of Papua New Guinea and along the east coast of Queensland and New South Wales between these localities. The male and female differ in colouration and in the shape of the head.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Sydney Basin (SB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: sap-feeder.

Diagnosis

Coryphe with median keel, anterior margin convex, posterior margin straight. Pronotum with median keel, anterior margin weakly convex. Scutellum with median and lateral keels.
Coloration. Female. Metope brown or black, median keel sometimes light. Clypeus dark brown or black excluding light brown yellowish lateral sides. Genae light brown yellowish. Coryphe, pronotum, scutellum, and fore wings brown or black, with wide median white stripe. Lateral parts of pronotum below eyes and costal margin of fore wings with wide white stripe. Abdominal tergites brown, with dark brown dots, 3 wide light yellow or white longitudinal stripes laterally and medially and 4 dark brown or black wide longitudinal stripes between them. Epimera and episternae dark brown or black. Abdominal sternites with light brown yellowish median part and black lateral parts. Well pigmented specimen has median part of sternites with large dark brown spots. Legs light brown yellowish or brown. Each femur with dark brown spot distally. Apices of lateral and apical spines black. Claws dark brown or black. Gonoplacs dark brown or black, with pair of lateral light brown yellowish spots.
Male. Face black excluding light brown yellowish lateral parts of clypeus and genae. Coryphe, pronotum, scutellum, fore wings, epimera and episternae black. Legs light brown yellowish. Each femur with dark brown spot distally. Apices of lateral and apical spines black. Claws dark brown or black. Abdominal tergites light yellow or light green yellowish. Tergites III–VII with reddish posterior margin. Anal tube light brown yellowish.
Female genitalia. Hind margin of sternum VII convex, with median concavity.
Body length. Males—2.3–2.5 mm, females—3.0–3.4 mm. (Gnezdilov 2008)

Diagnosis References

Gnezdilov, V.M. 2008. Revision of the genus Gelastissus Kirkaldy (Hemiptera, Fulgoroidea, Caliscelidae). Zootaxa 1727: 22-28 [23]

History of changes