Family LOPHOPIDAE Stål, 1866

Museums

Regional Maps

• Lophopida Stål, C. 1866. Hemiptera Homoptera Latr. Hemiptera Africana 4: 1-276 [130].

  Type genus:

   Lophops Spinola, 1839.

Introduction

The Lophopidae are represented in Australia by two species of Magia Distant and Lophops saccharicida (Kirkaldy), a possible pest of sugarcane. There is a rich fauna of Lophopidae in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands with nine genera represented but only L. saccharicida is common to both Austalia and New Guinea. The two species of Magia naturally occur in Queensland although M. subocellata Distant has been introduced to the tropical palm collection in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. Soulier-Perkins (1998) reviewed the world genera and provided a diagnostic key. She noted that Pyrilla Stål contains species which are pests of sugarcane in India and that two species of Lophopidae were known to be associated with economic damage to coconut in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Recent work by Gitau, et al. (2011a) has demonstrated that Zophiuma butawengi (Heller) (= Z. lobulata Ghauri, see Gitau, et al., 2011b) causes Finschhafen Disorder of coconut and oil palms in New Guinea through direct feeding damage rather than through transmission of a pathogen. Damage to coconut palms in the Solomon Islands was reported by Soulier-Perkins (1998) to be associated with Painella simmondsi Muir but the causes of this damage have not been investigated. Soulier-Perkins (1998) reported that she recognised four groups within the Lophopidae in her postgraduate thesis in 1997, but did not create a subfamily classification.

Diagnosis

Second segment of hind tarsi small, apically rounded or pointed, without spines; frons longer than wide; clypeus with lateral carinae.

ID Keys

Fletcher, M.J. (1999) Identification key and checklists for the Planthoppers of Australia and New Zealand (Superfamily Fulgoroidea) https://idtools.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/fulgor/index.html

General References

Gitau, C.W., Fletcher, M.J., Mitchell, A., Dewhurst, C.F. & Gurr, G.M. 2011. Review of the planthopper genus Zophiuma Fennah (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Lophopidae) with first description of the male of Zophiuma pupillata Stål. Australian Journal of Entomology 50(1): 86–92 (2011b)

Gitau, C.W., Gurr, G.M., Dewhurst, C.F., Mitchell, A., Fletcher, M.J., Liefting, L.W. & Cowling, A. 2011. Zophiuma lobulata (Hemiptera: Lophopidae) causes Finschhafen disorder of coconut and oil palms. Annals of Applied Biology 158(1): 139–148 (2011a)

Soulier-Perkins, A. 1998. The Lophopidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha): Description of three new genera and key to the genera of the family. European Journal of Entomology 95: 599–618

History of changes