Genus Gelastocephalus Kirkaldy, 1906

Museums

Regional Maps

• Gelastocephalus Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [402].

  Type species:

   Gelastocephalus ornithoides Kirkaldy, 1906 by monotypy.
• Tarberus Jacobi, A. 1928. Results of Dr E. Mjöberg's Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910-1913. Rhynchota, Homoptera. 1. Fulgoridae und Cercopidae. Arkiv för Zoologi 19A(28): 1-50 [37].

  Type species:

   Tarberus semicarinatus Jacobi, 1928 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Fennah, R.G. 1969. Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. Pacific Insects Monographs 21: 1-116 [8]

Introduction

Females are identifiable to genus level only since the two species are differentiated by examination of the male genitalia. Löcker et al. (2006) noted that they had 20 female specimens of Gelastocephalus from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia but it is unknown which species they represent. No details of localities within those states were given for these female specimens.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Diagnosis

Colour. Vertex yellow to brown; face pale yellowish, lateral carinae sometimes darker, anteclypeus light brown, apical portion of anteclypeus black or brown; pronotum yellow brown to mid brown; mesonotum dark brown to black; forewing hyaline light to dark brown, with or without grey areas, with one whitish spot basad of pterostigma and one or two distad of pterostigma, veins concolorous with cells, tubercles mid to dark brown. Morphology. Body length. ♂ 3.0–4.3 mm, ♀ 4.2–5.3 mm. Head. Apex of vertex narrowly rounded or truncate; caudal border v-shaped; lateral carinae strongly elevated. Frons with strongly elevated lateral carinae; median carina absent. Postclypeus and anteclypeus with well developed, distinctly elevated median carina; postclypeus with absent or evanescent lateral carinae. Thorax. Concavity at costal border of forewing present; Sc+R+M forming common stem; fork of Sc+R basad of fork of CuA1+CuA2. Hind tibia with row of six apical teeth.
Remarks The following combination of characters is diagnostic for this genus: pale yellow face without a median carina on the frons, with a distinctly elevated median carina on the clypeus and with absent or evanescent lateral carinae on the postclypeus. Completely absent or evanescent lateral carinae on the postclypeus are unusual within the Gelastocephalini.(Löcker et al. 2006)

ID Keys

Fletcher, M.J., Löcker, B., Larivière, M.C. and Löcker, H. (2006). Illustrated Key to the Australian Genera of the Planthopper Tribe Gelastocephalini (Hemiptera: Cixiidae: Fulgoromorpha) http://www1.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/fulgor/cixiid/gelastocephalini/gel00.htm

Diagnosis References

Löcker, B., Fletcher, M.J., Larivière, M.-C., Gurr, G.M., Holzinger, W.E. & Löcker, H. 2006. Taxonomic and phylogenetic revision of the Gelastocephalini (Hemiptera: Cixiidae). Invertebrate Systematics 20: 59-160 [104]

General References

Löcker, B., Fletcher, M.J., Larivière, M.-C., Gurr, G.M., Holzinger, W.E. & Löcker, H. 2006. Taxonomic and phylogenetic revision of the Gelastocephalini (Hemiptera: Cixiidae). Invertebrate Systematics 20: 59-160 [104]

History of changes