Species Haplodelphax pluto (Kirkaldy, 1906)

Sardia rostrata pluto (Kirkaldy)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Hadeodelphax pluto Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [410].

  Type data:

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

Generic Combinations

• Sardia rostrata pluto (Kirkaldy, 1906). —
  Fennah, R.G. 1965. Delphacidae from Australia and New Zealand (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 17(1): 1-59 [44]
• Sardia pluto (Kirkaldy, 1906). —
  Kirkaldy, G.W. 1908. Notes on some Sinhalese Rhynchota. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (Comptes-rendus) 52: 9-14 [14]
• Haplodelphax pluto (Kirkaldy, 1906). —
  Yang, C.T. 1989. Delphacidae of Taiwan II (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). National Science Council Special Publications, Taiwan 6: 1-334 [284]

Introduction

This is a distinctive delphacid with long narrow dark wings and a narrow vertex extending anteriorly in front of the eyes. Superficially, it resembles some species of the cixiid tribe Gelastocephalini, particularly species of Gelastocephalus but these lack the mobile spur at the apex of the hind tibia which is diagnostic for Delphacidae. The subspecies is widespread in Australia in subcoastal and inland areas of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Whether it is truly a separate subspecies or just a local variant of Sardia rostrata needs to be tested. Muir (1923) and Fennah (1965) both stated that they could find little difference between the two forms other than colour and the length of the vertex. Fennah (1965) looked at specimens of rostrata from Sri Lanka (the type locality of the species) and of pluto from Queensland (the type locality of pluto) as well as specimens from India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cocos Islands, New Britain and Sunday Island and found a range of intermediate stages in both features.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, Vic: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Nandewar (NAN), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Blackish piceous; antennae and legs testaceous. Tegmina dark smoky, first and second apical cells and apex of costal cell, hyaline; commissure whitish, with a black spot near apex of clavus. Length: 4.25 mill. (Kirkaldy 1906)

Macropterous form: the posterior angle of the scutellum is white, and the median keel of the pronotum is sometimes pale. Male: pygophor sinuately rounded viewed from the end. The genital styles are recurved and broadly bifid at their ends. Length (brach.) 3.5, (macr.) 4.25 mill. (Kirkaldy 1907)

Diagnosis References

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [410–411]

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [140]

History of changes