Genus Lydda Westwood, 1840

Museums

Regional Maps

• Lydda Westwood, J.O. 1840. Observations on the genus Derbe of Fabricius. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 1: 82-85 [84] [first introduced as a subgenus of Derbe Fabricius, 1803].

  Type species:

   Derbe elongata Fabricius, 1781 by original designation.
• Diospolis Westwood, J.O. 1841. Observations on the genus Derbe of Fabricius. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 19: 1-18 [9] [replacement name; unnecessary nom. nov. for Lydda Westwood, 1840].

  Type species:

   Derbe elongata Fabricius, 1781 by original designation.
• Philadelpheia Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [432].

  Type species:

   Philadelpheia pandani Kirkaldy, 1906 by monotypy.
• Arfaka Distant, W.L. 1907. Rhynchotal Notes. xlii. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 19: 395-416 [397].

  Type species:

   Arfaka decisa Distant, 1907 by original designation.
• Afakia Kirkaldy, G.W. 1909. Hemiptera, old and new, No. 2. The Canadian Entomologist 41(11): 388-392 [391] [emendation; unnecessary emendation of Arfaka Distant, 1907].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 2 pp. 261-636. [400] (synonymy of Diospolis and Lydda.)
• Muir, F. 1918. Notes on the Derbidae in the British Museum collection. I. Zoraidinae. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 54: 173-177 [174] (synonymy of Philadelpheia with Diospolis)
• Van Stalle, J. 1992. Redeflnition and revision of Lydda Westwood, 1840 with taxonomic notes on Diostrombus Uhler, 1896 (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea, Derbidae). Entomologica Scandinavica 23(2): 185–213 [188] (synonymy of Arfaka and Afakia)

Introduction

This genus was based on a single species Lydda elongata (Fabricius) collected on the voyage of the Endeavour along the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770. In the original description of the species, as Cicada elongata Fabricius (1781), the locality was simply given as "New Holland" and this (or variations) remained the only record listed by a number of authors between 1781 and 1832 (see Metcalf 1945). The first record of the species from "New South Wales" was by Schaum (1850) and Walker (1851) but, at that time, New South Wales could have meant any part of the east coast of mainland Australia. It wasn't until Kirkaldy (1906) that a more specific locality was provided and this was Cairns in the wet tropics of North Queensland. It is quite possible that this species has never been found in New South Wales as it is defined today, with the original material coming from the Endeavour River near Cooktown in North Queensland. Van Stalle (1992) redefined the genus, described a number of new species and transferred all the Australian and most of the New Guinean.species of Proutista Kirkaldy into it. The known distribution of the genus is now limited to eastern Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia. Many species have been found on Pandanus leaves and it is likely that this genus is a host plant for species of Lydda.

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NT, Qld: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Diagnosis

Rostrum brevius. Antennae breves. Aaee anticae valdè elongatae, apice rotundatae, directione venarum anomalâ; regione venae medianae minimâ, aut potiùs ejus rami in venae postcostalis ramos transformati (Westwood 1840).

Distinguished by the big, wide eyes which extend laterally beyond the pronotum. Scutellum roundly declivous, head roundly perpendicular. Vertex and frons confused, consisting of a strongly elevated keel on each side and a very narrow area between, narrowing still more anteriorly. Eyes very large, very transverse, extending laterally slightly beyond lateral margins of pronotum. Antennae with second segment short, subglobular, a little wider apically than at base. Clypeus longer than the epicranium, strongly keeled medianly, more lightly sublaterally. Rostrum extending beyond posterior coxae. Scutellum tricarinate. Tegmina very elongate, venation dissimilar to any other genus. Posterior tibiae with one small spine, a little apical of the middle (Kirkaldy 1906, as Philadelpheia).

Head with eyes in dorsal view half to 3/4 as wide as thorax measured at posterior angles of pronotum. Vertex elongate triangular, lateral keels meeting each other at junction with frons. Frons in profile with margin parallel to eyes, lateral keels contiguous; lateral ocelli situated on base of frons. Postclypeus with a median and two lateral keels; labium with terminal segment about as long as broad, black in many species. Antennae short, pedicel ovoid, 1.3 to 1.8 times as long as broad at its widest part, flagellum implanted apically. Pronotum short, without keels, and posterior margin excavated. Mesonotum with three longitudinal indistinct keels. Metanotum well visible, triangular. Tegmina about 6.5 to 8.5 mm long, 3.4 to 4.4 times as long as broad, hyaline with brown spots or sometimes uncoloured; clavus open by the fact that Pcu goes beyond Cu2 (claval suture); Cul with two branches which can be partly fused. M with five unforked branches, all branches of Cul and M linked by cross-veins. Sc + R forked just before middle, and a variable number of cross-veins between the costal margin and Sc. Wings half as long as tegmina, anal area reduced and folded under the wing, having a relatively large, ridged surface which comes in contact with a bristled spot on the third (first visible) tergite of the abdomen. Legs slender, hind tibiae with small lateral spines, in many species not much larger than hairs and therefore difficult to observe; first and second hind tarsomere with five to seven small teeth on apex. Male genitalia: anal segment very short to long, obtuse or tapering, in some species bent downwards. Pygofer with rounded to angulate dorsolateral margin, medioventral process present, poorly developed or lacking. Aedeagus with a well-developed plate-shaped suspensorium which is connected to the dorsal part of the pygofer close to the anal segment; apex often bearing a movable, dorsally pointing spinose process and some rigid spines on sides. Female genitalia: valvulae reduced, tergite VIII often bearing a triangular process which can be very long in some species (Van Stalle 1992).

ID Keys

Van Stalle 1992: 187

Diagnosis References

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [432]

Van Stalle, J. 1992. Redeflnition and revision of Lydda Westwood, 1840 with taxonomic notes on Diostrombus Uhler, 1896 (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea, Derbidae). Entomologica Scandinavica 23(2): 185–213 [188–189]

General References

Fabricius, J.C. 1781. Ryngota. pp. 313–331 in, Species insectorum exhibentes eorum differentias specificas, synonyma auctorum, loca natalia, metamorphosin adietis observationibus, descriptionibus. 517 pp. [324]

Metcalf, Z.P. 1945. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV, Fulgoroidea. Part 4, Derbidae. Raleigh N.C. : North Carolina State College 212 pp. [16]

History of changes