Species Massila sicca Walker, 1862

Massila sicca Walker, adult

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Massila sicca Walker, F. 1862. Characters of undescribed species of Homoptera in the collection of F.P. Pascoe, F.L.S. Journal of Entomology A 1: 303-319 [315].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH ♂, Sydney, New South Wales.
  Paralectotype(s) BMNH sex, quantity unknown, Moreton Bay, Queensland
  Comment: Medler (1990), in designating a lectotype, made no mention of paralectotypes although Walker (1862) clearly indicating that syntypes existed by the provision of two localities. There may also be paralectotypes from Sydney.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Medler, J.T. 1990. Types of Flatidae (Homoptera) XIV. Walker and Distant types in the British Museum. Oriental Insects 24: 127–195 [160].
• Massila sidnica Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [460].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BPBM 5439A ♂ (coll.: i.1905, Koebele), Sydney, New South Wales.
  Paralectotype(s) BPBM 5439 ♀ (coll: ii.1905, Koebele), Sydney, New South Wales; BPBM 1 ♂, 2 ♀ (coll: i.1905, Koebele), Sydney, New South Wales.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Medler, J.T. 1987. Types of Flatidae (Homoptera) XI. Taxonomic notes on Kirkaldy Types in the Bishop Museum, with illustrations of the genitalia of male lectotypes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 27: 115-125 [123].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Medler, J.T. 1987. Types of Flatidae (Homoptera) XI. Taxonomic notes on Kirkaldy Types in the Bishop Museum, with illustrations of the genitalia of male lectotypes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 27: 115-125 [123] (synonymy of Massila sidnica Kirkaldy)

Introduction

This is the most common and widespread species of the genus having been recorded along the eastern coastal regions from Townsville, Queensland, to Oberon in the SE Highlands of New South Wales.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Cinereous. Head very short; vertex keeled; front broader than long, keeled in the middle, the rim on each side dilated towards the face. Prothorax truncate-conical in front, slightly concave behind, with two furrows which are united hindward. Legs whitish. Fore wings rather narrow, with some black or brown points, and with two irregular oblique connected black or brown stripes; costa and exterior border forming a rounded right angle; costa convex towards the base, concave exteriorly; exterior border and interior border tuberculate, the former slightly convex; interior border dilated near the base, excavated in the middle part, slightly angular towards the tip; veins hardly ramifying; transverse veinlets numerous, irregular. Length of the body 1–2½ lines; of the wings 7–8 lines (Walker 1862).

Diagnosis References

Walker, F. 1862. Characters of undescribed species of Homoptera in the collection of F.P. Pascoe, F.L.S. Journal of Entomology A 1: 303-319 [315]

History of changes