Genus Maiestas Distant, 1917

Museums

Regional Maps

• Maiestas Distant, W.L. 1917. The Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean in 1905, under the leadership of Mr J. Stanley Gardiner, M.A. Vol. VI, No vii — Rhynchota, Part II: Suborder Homoptera. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 2nd Series Zoology 17: 273-322 [312].

  Type species:

   Maiestas illustris Distant, 1917 by monotypy.
• Togacephala Matsumura, S. 1940. Homopterous insects collected at Kotosho (Botel Tabago) Formosa by Mr Tadao Kano. Insecta Matsumurana 15(1-2): 34-51 [38].

  Type species:

   Deltocephalus distinctus Motschulsky, 1859 by original designation.
• Inazuma Ishihara, T. 1953. A tentative checklist of the superfamily Cicadelloidea of Japan (Homoptera). Scientific Reports of the Matsuyama Agricultural College 11: 1-72 [48].

  Type species:

   Deltocephalus dorsalis Motschulsky, 1859 by original designation.
• Inemadara Ishihara, T. 1953. A tentative checklist of the superfamily Cicadelloidea of Japan (Homoptera). Scientific Reports of the Matsuyama Agricultural College 11: 1-72 [48].

  Type species:

   Deltocephalus oryzae Matsumura, 1901 by original designation.
• Insulanus Linnavuori, R.E. 1960. Homoptera : Cicadellidae. Insects of Micronesia 6(5): 225-344 [303].

  Type species:

   Stirellus subviridis Metcalf, 1946 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Webb, M.D. & Viraktamath, C.A. 2009. Annotated check-list, generic key and new species of Old World Deltocephalini leafhoppers with nomenclatorial changes in the Deltocephalus group and other Deltocephalinae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Cicadellidae). Zootaxa 2163: 1-64 [14] (Synonymy of Togacephalus, Inazuma, Inemadara and Insulanus)

Introduction

The species in this genus have had a tortured taxonomic history; Webb and Viraktamath (2009) have provided some stability for the group. Nine species are known in Australia with another species found on Norfolk Island. Maiestas knighti Webb & Viraktamath and M. veta (Knight) are two of the most common grass-feeding leafhoppers in eastern Australia. M. knighti was previously known in Australia as Recilia hospes (Kirkaldy) but Webb and Viraktamath (2009) restricted that name to a species found only on Hawaii. No species of the genus has yet been recorded in South Australia although it is probable that this is an artefact of minimal collecting for leafhoppers in that state.

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

CICADELLIDAE: Maiestas distincta (Motschulsky, 1859) [Evans (1977) used this name for a species he had included in Evans (1966) as Deltocephalus coronifer (Marshall) with which he had synonymised Deltocephalus hospes Kirkaldy. Knight (1975) resurrected D. hospes but Webb & Viraktamath (2009) restricted the name hospes to a species in Hawaii, creating the new name Maiestas knighti for the Australian species previously known as Recilia hospes. Zhang and Duan (2011) described the distribution of M. distincta as "widespread in Palaeotropical Region including China".] — Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [240]; Evans, J.W. 1977. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Part 2. Records of the Australian Museum 31(3): 83-129 [119]; Zhang, Y.L. and Duan, Y.N. 2011. Review of the Deltocephalus group of leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) in China. Zootaxa 2870: 1–47 [12–13]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Wet Tropics (WT) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater, Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Diagnosis

Allied to the genus Kolla Dist. in the general structure of the head, save that the ocelli are placed near the base and almost as near to eyes as to each other; another chief difference is in the venation of the tegmen which contains two transverse veins on disk, one near base, the other near middle, four large apical cells and three narrow ante-apical cells or areas (Distant 1917).

In general, species of Maiestas are small, light brown macropterous leafhoppers, usually with a broken dark brown or black marginal line or series of angular spots on the front margin of the vertex. The vertex is roundly triangular, distinctly longer in the centre than near the eyes.

ID Keys

Webb & Viraktamath 2009: 10

Diagnosis References

Distant, W.L. 1917. The Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean in 1905, under the leadership of Mr J. Stanley Gardiner, M.A. Vol. VI, No vii — Rhynchota, Part II: Suborder Homoptera. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 2nd Series Zoology 17: 273-322 [312]

Webb, M.D. & Viraktamath, C.A. 2009. Annotated check-list, generic key and new species of Old World Deltocephalini leafhoppers with nomenclatorial changes in the Deltocephalus group and other Deltocephalinae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Cicadellidae). Zootaxa 2163: 1-64 [10]

General References

Webb, M.D. & Viraktamath, C.A. 2009. Annotated check-list, generic key and new species of Old World Deltocephalini leafhoppers with nomenclatorial changes in the Deltocephalus group and other Deltocephalinae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Cicadellidae). Zootaxa 2163: 1-64 [18–19]

History of changes