Species Hishimonus passiflorae (Evans, 1941)

Hishimonus passiflorae (Evans), adult.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Eutettix passiflorae Evans, J.W. 1941. New Australian leafhoppers. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 65(1): 36-41 [40].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM ♂ (coll.: viii. 1937, N.S. Noble), Sydney, New South Wales.
• Hishimonus disciguttus Evans, J.W. 1955. Cicadellidae (Hemiptera: Homoptera). Exploration du Parc National de l'Upemba. Mission G. F. de Witte 37: 1-44 [20] [misidentification of Hishimonus disciguttus Walker 1857].

Generic Combinations

• Hishimonus passiflorae (Evans, 1941). —
  Knight, W.J. 1970. A revision of the genus Hishimonus Ishihara. Suomen Hyönteistieteellinen Aikakauskirja 36(3): 125-139 [134]

Introduction

This is a common species in suburban gardens in eastern Australia. It is familiar because of the diamond-shaped marking in the middle of its back when its wings are at rest. However, there are other local species with which it might be confused so reference to the male genitalia is the most reliable method of confirming identifications. It is distributed along the eastern coastline from Sydney to the wet tropics of North Queensland and is also found in Fiji and the Bismarck Archipelago of New Guinea. It was described originally from specimens on passionfruit, Passiflora edulis Sims (Passifloraceae), but has a wide host range amongst both native and exotic plants.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder (associated flora: Passiflora edulis Sims [PASSIFLORACEAE]).

Diagnosis

Head ventral surface buff with irregular yellowish brown markings, eyes dark brown. Crown buff mottled with yellowish brown. Pronotum anteriorly yellowish brown, posteriorly grey mottled with brown. Scutellum apically and anterior lateral angles yellowish brown, the remainder buff. Tegmen whhitish hyaline with an irregular pattern of light and dark brown spots; veins light and dark brown. An irregular dark grey median fascia extends from the anal border to half way towards the costal border. Thorax and abdomen ventral surface pale grey and buff. Anterior two pairs of legs buff with very dark brown markings on the femora and tibiae. Hind legs buff, bases of the spines dark brown. Length 3.8 mm. (Evans 1941).

Face pallid yellowish, dorsum testaceous with pale brown markings. Tegmen pale whitish with evenly scattered brown mottling, becoming denser and darker towards apex of tegmen medially; distinct pale brown posterior patch, pallid medially against hind margin. Legs pale brown with dark brown spots. Male genitalia. Subgenital plates relatively narrow, rounded externally to apical process. Paramere with well developed preapical lobe, apical process narrow, tapering, slightly sinuate, apically acute. Connective with arms slightly longer than stem. Aedeagus with pair of short straight processes medially on basal apodeme; shafts strongly divergent from base then curved dorsally to apical gonopore, bearing lateral narrow process from lateral margin to gonopore, extending lateroventrally (Fletcher & Dai 2013).

ID Keys

Fletcher & Dai 2013: 422

Diagnosis References

Evans, J.W. 1941. New Australian leafhoppers. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 65(1): 36-41 [40]

Fletcher, M.J. & Dai, W. 2013. The genus Hishimonus Ishihara in Australia (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Opsiini) including description of three new species. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum - Nature 58: 421–431 [422–423]

History of changes