Species Orosius argentatus (Evans, 1938)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Thamnotettix argentatus Evans, 1938.

  Type data:

   Holotype AM ♂ (coll: J.W. Evans), Burnley, Victoria.

 

Generic Combinations

• Orosius argentatus (Evans, 1938). —
  Oman, P.W. 1949. The Nearctic leafhoppers (Homoptera : Cicadellidae). A generic classification and check list. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington 3: 1-253 [11]

 

Introduction

This species has long been confused with O. orientalis which also occurs in Australia and which has very similar male genitalia. The two species were synonymised by Kwon & Lee (1979) and this synonymy was followed by most subsequent authors until Fletcher et al. (2016) demonstrated that the two species were quite distinctive in CO1 gene sequence and found minor but consistent differences in the male genitalia to separate the two. Orosius argentatus is more common in eastern Australia than in Western Australia while O. orientalis is more common in Western Australia and extends into the Oriental and eastern Palaearctic regions. Orosius argentatus has been cited as a vector for several phytoplasma-associated diseases in Australia (see Fletcher 2016: 11 for details).

 

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Carnarvon (CAR), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder, vector.

 

Diagnosis

This species is difficult to differentiate from O. orientalis which has a similar aedeagus with the shafts lacking distinctive features other than the apices being inturned, in ventral view. In O. orientalis the shafts in lateral view are slightly sinuate while in O. argentatus they are more or less straight. In ventral view, the shafts of O. orientalis are more or less parallel while in O. argentatus they are slightly divergent. These differences are slight and, for significant identifications such as those associated with identification of disease vectors, examination of a COI barcode may be required (Fletcher et al. 2016).

 

ID Keys

Fletcher et al. 2016: 5

 

Diagnosis References

Fletcher, M.J., Löcker, H., Mitchell, A. & Gopurenko, D. 2016. A revision of the genus Orosius Distant (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) based on male genitalia and DNA barcoding. Austral Entomology [Date published Early version published online 1/9/2016: Paper version in 2017 on Vol. 56(2): 198–217] [9–11]

 

General References

Fletcher, M.J., Löcker, H., Mitchell, A. & Gopurenko, D. 2016. A revision of the genus Orosius Distant (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) based on male genitalia and DNA barcoding. Austral Entomology [Date published Early version published online 1/9/2016: Paper version in 2017 on Vol. 56(2): 198–217] [9–11]

Kwon, Y.J. & Lee, C.E. 1979. On some new and little known Palaearctic species of leafhoppers (Homoptera : Auchenorrhyncha : Cicadellidae). Nature and Life in Southeast Asia 9(2): 69-97 [92]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
	Opsiini Emeljanov, 1962	09-Sep-2016	ADDED	Dr Murray Fletcher