Species Hecalus arcuatus (Motschulsky, 1859)

Hecalus arcuatus (Motschulsky), adult.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Platymetopius arcuatus Motschulsky, V.I. 1859. Homoptères. In, Insectes des Indes orientales, et de contrées analogues. Etudes Entomologiques, rédigées par Victor de Motschulsky. 25-118 pp. [115].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) ZMM 1♂ 1♀, Mt Noura-Ellia, Sri Lanka.
• Parabolocratus citrinus Evans, J.W. 1941. New Australian leafhoppers. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 65(1): 36-41 [36].

  Type data:

   Holotype SAMA ♀ (coll.: A.M. Lea), Cairns, Queensland.
• Tetigonia kalidasa Kirkaldy, G.W. 1900. Notes on some Sinhalese Rhynchota. The Entomologist 33(450): 293-295 [294].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BPBM sex, quantity unknown (coll.: iv.1898, E.E. Green), Pundaluoya, Sri Lanka.
• Parabolocratus concentralis Matsumura, S. 1912. Die Acocephalinen und Bythoscopinen Japans. Journal of the College of Agriculture, Tohoku Imperial University, Sapporo 4(7): 279-325 [288].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) EIHU ♂ (coll: Matsumura. Mounted together with female syntype), Formosa; EIHU ♀ (coll: Matsumura. Mounted together with male syntype), Formosa.
• Parabolocratus concentricus Matsumura, S. 1940. Homopterous insects collected at Kotosho (Botel Tabago) Formosa by Mr Tadao Kano. Insecta Matsumurana 15(1-2): 34-51 [36].

  Type data:

   Holotype EIHU ♂ (Type appears to be missing (Morrison 1973)), Kotosho, Japan.

  Type locality references:

  Morrison, W.P. 1973. A revision of the Hecalinae (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) of the Oriental Region. Pacific Insects 15: 379-438 [427] (Reports that Matsumura's type could not be found in EIHU).

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Distant, W.L. 1908. Rhynchota. — Vol. IV. Homoptera and Appendix. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma 4: 1-501 [280] (synonymy of T. kalidasa)
• Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [134] (synonymy of Parabolocratus citrinus )
• Morrison, W.P. 1973. A revision of the Hecalinae (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) of the Oriental Region. Pacific Insects 15: 379-438 [426-427] (Synonymy of P. concentralis (p.426) and P. concentricus (p.427))

Generic Combinations

• Linnavuoriella arcuata (Motschulsky, 1859). —
  Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [134]
• Hecalus arcuatus (Motschulsky, 1859). —
  Morrison, W.P. 1973. A revision of the Hecalinae (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) of the Oriental Region. Pacific Insects 15: 379-438 [426]
• Parabolocratus arcuatus (Motschulsky, 1859). —
  Capco, S.R. 1959. The Philippine species of Parabolocratus. Philippine Journal of Science 88(3): 325-334 [330]

Introduction

This beautifully marked orange and green leafhopper is quite distinctive. It has been recorded from the northern tropics of the Northern Territory to Queensland and along the eastern coastline of mainland Australia as far south as Sydney. It is also known from New Guinea and is widely distributed in the Oriental region. Morrison (1973) reports that it has been collected in Thailand on grasses of the genera Themeda and Heteropogon and was successfully reared in the laboratory on Themeda sp.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Sturt Plateau (STU), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder (associated flora: Themeda australis R.Br. [POACEAE] (Kangaroo Grass); Heteropogon sp. [POACEAE]).

Diagnosis

Coloration yellow green. Orange lines dorsally forming inverted V on vertex, 2 concentric parabolic lines on pronotum, 3 longitudinal lines on scutellum. Vertex margin anteriorly with transverse submarginal ventral fuscous line. ♂ abdomen brown dorsally. ♂ forewings yellow-green; apical 1/3 light brown with faint white spots in apical and anteapical cells; dark spot at tip of clavus, 2 dark spots on apical margin; claval vein, claval suture and usually 3 veins partially orange. ♀ forewing yellow-green; apical 1/3 only slightly darkened with obscure white spots; orange veins as in ♂ but usually faint. Hindwings hyaline (Morrison 1973).
Morrison (1973) provides description and illustrations of the male genitalia.

Diagnosis References

Morrison, W.P. 1973. A revision of the Hecalinae (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) of the Oriental Region. Pacific Insects 15: 379-438 [416, 427]

History of changes