Genus Hecalus Stål, 1864

Museums

Regional Maps

• Hecalus Stål, C. 1864. Hemiptera nonnulla nova vel minus cognita. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 4 4: 47-68 [65].

  Type species:

   Petalocephala paykulli Stål, 1854 by subsequent designation, see Distant, W.L. 1908. Rhynchota Malayana, Part I. Records of the Indian Museum 2: 127-151 [145].
• Parabolocratus Fieber, F.X. 1866. Neue Gattungen und Arten in Homopteren (Cicadina Bur.). Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 16: 497-516 [502].

  Type species:

   Parabolocratus glaucescens Fieber, 1866 by monotypy.
• Thomsonia Signoret, V.A. 1879. Essai sur les Jassides Stål, Fieb. et plus particulièrement sur les Acocéphalides Paton. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 5 9: 47-92, 259-280 [51].

  Type species:

   Hecalus kirschbaumi Stål, 1870 by monotypy.
• Thomsoniella Signoret, V.A. 1880. Essai sur les Jassides Stål, Fieb, et plus particulièrement sur les Acocéphalides Puton. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 5 10: 41-70, 189-212, 347-366 [52] [emendation of Thomsonia Signoret 1879].

  Type species:

   Hecalus kirschbaumi Stål, 1870 by monotypy.
• Columbanus Distant, W.L. 1916. Rhynchota, Homoptera Appendix. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma 6: 1-248 [224].

  Type species:

   Columbanus misranus Distant, 1916 by monotypy.
• Linnavuoriella Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [134].

  Type species:

   Parabolocratus arcuatus (Motschulsky), 1859 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Stål, C. 1870. Hemiptera insularum Philippinarum. Bidrag till Philippinska oarnes Hemipter-fauna. Öfversigt af Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar. Stockholm 27: 607-776 [736] (synonymy of Parabolocratus Fieber)
• Distant, W.L. 1918. Rhynchota. Homoptera: Appendix. Heteroptera: Addenda. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma 7(i-viii): 1-210 [30] (synonymy of Thomsonia Signoret and Thomsoniella Signoret)
• Morrison, W.P. 1973. A revision of the Hecalinae (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) of the Oriental Region. Pacific Insects 15: 379-438 [410] (synonymy of Columbanus Distant, Linnavuoriella Evans)

Introduction

This world wide genus has four species present in Australia, mainly distributed across the tropical north of the country but extending along the eastern seaboard to the Sydney basin in New South Wales and along the western seaboard as far south as the Swan Coastal Plain. One species is also recorded from inland sites.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gascoyne (GAS), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Nandewar (NAN), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Diagnosis

Corpus depressum. Caput valde productum, latum, antrorsum haud vel ieviter angustatum , apice rotundatum, marginibus sat attenuatis; facie nonnihil convexa; genis infra oculos sat profunde sinuatis, sinu obtusangulo. Oculi parvi. Occelli in margine capitis positi, ad oculos valde appropinquati. Thorax transversus, basi et apice subtruncatus, marginibus lateralibus rectis, parallelis. Tegmina apicem abdominis vix attingentia, levissime valvantia, venis distinctis. Pedes mediocres, tibiis anterioribus spinis rarioribus et subtilioribus, posticis spinis numerosissimis armatis. Sivae affine genus, forma capitis, oculis parvis tegminibusque postici vix valvantibus diversum (Stål 1964).

Vertex subangularly acute to foliaceous; anterior margin usually with a dorsal ridge; broadly triangular to rounded in dorsal view. Ocelli on margin next to compound eye. Margin of eye below gena strongly sinuate. Transclypeal suture complete. Lateral clypeal suture extending through antennal pit to vertex margin anterior to ocelli. Pronotum as wide or wider than head; laterally carinate; concave posteriorly. ♀♀ brachypterous or macropterous. Wings sometimes with claval crossveins. Hind femoral setal formula 2-2-1. Brown to green in color. ♂ valve present. Plates finger-like, dorsoventrally flattened; lateral setae. Posterior half of pygofer heavily setose. Connective in shape of inverted Y. Style triangular with dorso-posterior thumb-like projection. Aedeagus with terminal processes; gonopore apical or subapical; dorsal apodeme present. ♀ ovipositor extending beyond pygofer at least 1 X its width. 7th sternum with or without medial projection and buenos notches (Morrison 1973).

ID Keys

Morrison 1973: 389

Diagnosis References

Morrison, W.P. 1973. A revision of the Hecalinae (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) of the Oriental Region. Pacific Insects 15: 379-438 [410]

History of changes