Genus Rubria Stål, 1865

Rubria sanguinosa (Stål), type species of Rubria Stål.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Rubria Stål, C. 1865. Homoptera nova vel minus cognita. Öfversigt af Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar. Stockholm 22: 145-165 [158] [introduced as subgenus of Petalocephala Stål].

  Type species:

   Petalocephala sanguinosa Stål, 1865 by subsequent designation, see Evans, J.W. 1947. A natural classification of leafhoppers (Jassoidea, Homoptera) Part 3. Jassidae. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 98(6): 105-271 [131].
• Ledracephala Evans, J.W. 1947. A natural classification of leafhoppers (Jassoidea, Homoptera) Part 3. Jassidae. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 98(6): 105-271 [252].

  Type species:

   Ledra brevifrons Walker, 1851 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [102]

Introduction

The genus Rubria currently includes five species, four of which are endemic to Australia and one of which was described from Papua New Guinea. It is possible that the New Guinean species is not a member of the Rubrini which would make the tribe an Australian endemic. A study of the genus based on male genitalia may indicate that there are more species in collections than are currently recognised.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Coolgardie (COO), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Wet Tropics (WT)

Diagnosis

Corpus oblongum vel elongatum. Caput productum, thorace paullo latius, antice foliaceo-explanatum, margine antico acuto; vertice horizontali; facie levissime dilatata, deplanata vel concaviuscula, infra oculos sinuata, dein sensim angustata; fronte angusta, deplanata. Oculi parvi. Ocelli pone medium disci verticis positi, ab oculis et inter se aeque longe vel ab oculis quam inter se minus longe remotis. Thorax transversus, apice leviter rotundatus, marginibus lateralibus parallelis. Scutellum triangulare, paullo latius quam longius. Tegmina tectiformia, immarginata, haud valvantia, areis apicalibus quinque. Pedes mediocres, tibiis posticis superne parce vel minus dense dentatis vel spinosis (Stål 1866).

The anteclypeus narrows anteriorly and extends beyond the margin of the maxillary plates. The postclypeus widens progressively posteriorly as far as the antennae, which lie posterior to the eyes. The antennal depressions are basin-like and antennal ledges are lacking. An obscure epistomal suture is retained, and the frons, which is ill-defined, is either concave or raised medially. The crown of the head, which is longer in the female than in the male, is spatulate and transversely convex, or widely tectiform, with a median longitudinal ridge. It may be as long as, or more than twice the length of, the pronotum. The ocelli are nearer to each other than to the eyes. The pronotum is laterally wide and on a single plane. The tegmina are steeply tectiform and have normal venation, sometimes with accessory costal veinlets. The metathoracic tibiae have 2 widely spaced spines mounted on prominent spurs and a row of evenly spaced long spines (corrected from Evans 1966 by Jones & Deitz 2009).

Diagnosis References

Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [102]

Jones, J.R. & Deitz, L.L. 2009. Phylogeny and systematics of the leafhopper subfamily Ledrinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Zootaxa (2186): 1–120 [59]

Stål, C. 1866. Hemiptera Homoptera Latr. Hemiptera Africana 4: 1-276 [104]

History of changes