Species Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker, 1870)

Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker), adult.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker), face of head, male.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker), face of head, female.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Iassus nitidulus Walker, F. 1870. Catalogue of the Homopterous insects collected in the Indian Archipelago by Mr A.R. Wallace, with descriptions of new species. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 10: 276-330 [322].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH sex, quantity unknown, Mysol.
• Idiocerus niveosparsus Lethierry, L.F. 1889. Definitions of three new Homoptera. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 58: 252-253 [252].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown ♂ ♀, quantity unknown, Saharanpur, Calcutta, India.
• Idiocerus basalis Melichar, L. 1903. Homopteren-Fauna von Ceylon. Berlin: Felix L. Dames. 248 pp. [147].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) HNHM 4 ♂, 12 ♀ (coll.: i-iii.1902, Dr Uzel), Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
• Idiocerus maculatus Distant, W.L. 1912. Rhynchotal Notes. liv. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 10 8: 602-609 [605] [junior homonym; of Idiocerus maculatus Melichar, 1896].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH sex, quantity unknown, Orissa, India.
• Idiocerus incertus Baker, C.F. 1924. Nomenclatorial notes on the Jassoidea II. Philippine Journal of Science 24: 367 [367] [replacement name; for I. maculatus Distant].
• Idioscopus karachiensis Ahmed, S.S., Naheed, R. & Ahmed, M. 1980. Three new species of Idiocerine leafhoppers. Proceedings of Pakistan Congress of Zoology 1: 221–225 [222].

  Type data:

   Holotype NHMUK ♂ (coll: 10.iv.1979, Saeed, on mango (Mangifera indica), Karachi, Pakistan.
• idioscopus freytagi Ahmed, S.S., Naheed, R. & Ahmed, M. 1980. Three new species of Idiocerine leafhoppers. Proceedings of Pakistan Congress of Zoology 1: 221–225 [224].

  Type data:

   Holotype NHMUK ♂ (coll: 10.iv.1979, Saeed, on mango (Mangifera indica [not found in NHMUK by Khatri and Webb (2014)]), Karachi, Pakistan.

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 [185] (synonymy of I. basalis with I. niveosparsus)
• Maldonado Capriles, J. 1964. Studies on Idiocerinae leafhoppers: II The Indian and Philippine species of Idiocerus and the genus Idioscopus. (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 66(2): 89-100 [93] (synonymy of I. incertus)
• Maldonado Capriles, J. 1973. Studies on Idiocerine leafhoppers: X Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker), new combination (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 75(2): 179-181 [180] (synonymy of I. niveosparsus)
• Khatri, I. and Webb, M.D. 2014. Review of the idiocerine leafhoppers of Pakistan (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae) with a description of a new species. Zootaxa 3860(3): 280–290 [282] (synonymy of I. karachiensis and I. freytagi)

Generic Combinations

• Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker, 1870). —
  Maldonado Capriles, J. 1973. Studies on Idiocerine leafhoppers: X Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker), new combination (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 75(2): 179-181 [181]

Introduction

This is a serious pest of mango, Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae) in SE Asia and was first discovered on Australian territory on Yam Island and Darnley Island, Torres Strait, in 1986, spreading to the mainland at Darwin, Northern Territory, and Weipa, North Queensland in 1997. The species is widespread in the Oriental region and reported from parts of the eastern Palaearctic by various authors.

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NT, Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: pest (associated flora: Mangifera indica Linnaeus, 1753 [ANACARDIACEAE] Mango), phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Faem. Testaceus, robustus, vertice transverso obliquo lineis duabus luteis maculis duabus nigro punctatis vitta margineque postico albidis plagis duabus nigris, facie plaga nigra, scuto lituris quatuor anticis fuscis, scutello maculis duabus nigris trigonis, abdomine nigro maculis duabus et segmentorum marginibus luteis, femoribus piceo strigatis, tibiis tarsisque apice piceis, alis lurido-hyalinis, alis anticis apud apices fusco marginatis linea costali lutea stigmate longo nigricante.
Female. Testaceous, stout. Head as broad as the thorax; vertex oblique, thrice as broad as long, with a luteous line along each side, with a whitish spot on each side, with a whitish stripe and a whitish hind border, each spot including a black point; a black patch on each side of the front, and a third on the face. Rostrum spatulate. Thorax with two small brown marks on each side of the fore border; scutellum with a triangular black spot on each side. Abdomen black, with a large luteous spot on each side; hind borders of the segments luteous. Femora streaked with piceous; tibiae and tarsi with piceous tips. Wings lurid, hyaline. Fore wings brown-bordered about the tips; a luteous line extending along the costa from the base and terminating at half the length in an elongated blackish stigma ; veins brown, testaceous towards the base. Hind wings with black veins. Length of the body 1½ line, of the wings 4 lines. (Walker 1870).

Coloration. Coffee brown with oblique white fascia on base of clavus and obscure transverse white fascia at apex of clavus. Face of male reddish brown with extensive black markings on apex of anteclypeus, medially on postclypeus and in broad irregular band between eyes and irregular white markings dorsally. Face of female pale reddish brown, paler on genae, with white markings dorsally. Male genitalia. Pygofer short, divided into dorsal quadrate lobe and ventral oblique section. Subgenital plates elongate narrow, slightly wider basally than remainder, bearing long hair setae in dorsal marginal row extending from basal third towards but not reaching apex, a tuft of longer hair setae around apex and extending onto ventral margin and a small group of short hair setae on ventral margin near apex. Paramere parallel-sided, narrow, abruptly narrowed near apex and bearing slight process at apex. Aedeagus with basal apodeme reaching to nearly half length of shaft. Shaft parallel-sided in lateral and posteroventral views, evenly curved dorsally from base with gonopore on posterior surface near apex. Apex bearing two pairs of filamentous processes extending towards base of aedeagus: medial pair short, evenly curved in lateral view, slightly sinuate in posterior view, reaching about half length of shaft, lateral pair elongate, reaching to base of aedeagus, apically crossed in posterolateral view (Fletcher & Dangerfield 2002).

Diagnosis References

Fletcher, M.J. & Dangerfield, P.C. 2002. Idioscopus clypealis (Lethierry), a second new leafhopper pest of mango in Australia (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Idiocerinae). Australian Journal of Entomology 41(1): 35–38 [37]

Walker, F. 1870. Catalogue of the Homopterous insects collected in the Indian Archipelago by Mr A.R. Wallace, with descriptions of new species. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 10: 276-330 [322–323]

History of changes