Species Opsius stactogalus Fieber, 1866

Opsius stactogalus Fieber, adult.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Opsius stactogalus Fieber, F.X. 1866. Neue Gattungen und Arten in Homopteren (Cicadina Bur.). Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 16: 497-516 [505] [replacement name; for Stactogalus Amyot, 1847 (non-binomial)].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown sex, quantity unknown, France.
• Eutettix osborni Ball, E.D. 1907. The genus Eutettix with especial reference to E. tenella, the beet leaf-hopper: a taxonomic, biologic, and economic study of the North American forms. Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences 12: 27-94 [39].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) USNM 1 ♂, 2 ♀ (coll.: May, Professor Snow), Galveston, Texas, USA.
• Jassus (Thamnotettix) tamaricis Kirschbaum, C.L. 1868. Die Cicadinen der gegend von Wiesbaden und Frankfurt A.M. nebst einer anzahl neuer oder Schwer zu unterscheidender Arten aus anderen Gegenden Europa's Taballarisch Beschrieben. Jahrbuch des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde 21-22: 1-202 [90].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown ♂ ♀, quantity unknown (coll.: v, Heiden, ix-x., in public gardens on Tamarix spp.), Wiesbaden, West Germany and Frankfurt, Germany.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Fieber, F.X. 1872. Katalog der europäischen Cicadinen, nach Originalien mit Benützung der neuesten Literatur. Wien. 19 pp. [11] (synonymy of J. (T.) tamaricis)
• Bergevin, E. de 1920. Note sur un Jassidae, Eutettix osborni Ball, de l'Amérique du Nord (Hem.). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 1920: 82-83 [83] (synonymy of E. osborni)

Introduction

The Tamarisk Leafhopper was first reported in Australia from the Swan Valley, Perth by Evans (1977). Since then it has spread to south eastern Australia where it is now widespread on its host, the weed tamarisk, Tamarix aphylla (L.) H.Karst. (Tamaricaceae).

Distribution

States

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

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder (associated flora: Tamarix spp. [TAMARICACEAE]).

Diagnosis

Deep green, the elytra with milky flecks and smoky apices. Vertex with the margins evenly rounding or slightly tumid at apex, disc convex, the transverse depression very faint, front broad, slightly convex, but little narrowed until suddenly rounding in to the clypeus, clypeus broad with the margins nearly parallel, elytra moderately long, closely folded, giving a wedge-shaped appearance to the insect. Venation simple, obscure, the anteapicals slightly longer than in [Eutettix] darivida, and the central one with the apex slightly more enlarged. Color: Vertex and face pale green, pronotum deep green, irregularly mottled on disc, paler anteriorly. Elytra deep green to just beyond the apex of clavus, then smoky, subhyaline. Several irregular white flecks on the green portion, an irregular band between the green and smoky, a round spot in the apex of the central anteapical cell, and the costa back of the middle, white. The nervures towards the apex are light, with a smoky shade intensified against them, especially against the fifth apical veinlet, where it appears margined with fuscous, interrupting the light costal area. Traces of minute black dots appear on the green portions of pronotum and elytra in two specimens. Genitalia: Female segment rather short, outer angles bluntly rounding, posterior margin rounding and slightly produced in the middle; male valve equilaterally triangular, acutely pointed, clothed with light hairs along the margin. Length ♀ 4.6mm, ♂ 4mm; width 1.3mm (Ball 1907, of Eutettix osborni)

Diagnosis References

Ball, E.D. 1907. The genus Eutettix with especial reference to E. tenella, the beet leaf-hopper: a taxonomic, biologic, and economic study of the North American forms. Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences 12: 27-94 [39]

History of changes