Genus Perkinsiella Kirkaldy, 1903

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Regional Maps

• Perkinsiella Kirkaldy, G.W. 1903. Miscellanea Rhynchotalia No. 7. The Entomologist 36: 179-181 [179].

  Type species:

   Perkinsiella saccharicida Kirkaldy, 1903 by original designation.

Introduction

The genus Perkinsiella was created by Kirkaldy (1903) to formally name the Australian Sugarcane Planthopper which had been introduced to Hawaii in 1898 and devastated the Hawaiian sugar industry. It was probably the catalyst which brought G.W. Kirkaldy into the study of Auchenorrhyncha, certainly of the Australian fauna. The name honours "Mr R.C.L. Perkins, who has contributed more than any other man to our knowledge of the fauna of the fascinating Hawaiian Islands" (Kirkaldy 1903). Currently, the genus contains more than 30 species spread around the globe wherever sugarcane is grown. The species are primarily, if not exclusively, sugarcane feeders and at least some, if not all, are capable of transmitting sugarcane diseases such as Fiji leafgall disease.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Victoria Bonaparte (VB) ; NSW, Qld, WA: Central Mackay Coast (CMC), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Diagnosis

Head short, scarcely extending beyond apical margin of eyes; vertex about as wide as an eye, transverse, 7-sided, divided by median keel into two 5-sided areas, somewhat deeply and roundly impressed; posterior margin truncate. Eyes reniform, oblique, latero-posteriorly extending to about half the length of the pronotum. The two apices of the vertex each give forth a keel, these unite near the top of the head at about three-fourths of the length of eyes (as seen from below), thence continuing to the apical margin of the flattish frons which is slightly emarginate; lateral keels of the frons straight (except at their base where they curve around meeting the 2 small basal forks of the median keel), subparallel (very slightly convergent towards the apex) and contiguous to the inner margin of the eyes. Lateral keels of genae meeting lateral keels of frons at an acute angle at the apical margin. All these keels are narrow, but well marked. Frons about the same width or a little narrower than an eye. Clypeus 3-carinate. Antennae with 1st segment flattened, apically dilated, triangular; 2nd segment longer than first, flattened more or less, a trifle narrower at apex than at base. Pronotum transverse, widely emarginate obtuse-angularly at base, 3-carinate, lateral keels arising at the apical margin close to the eyes, diverging slightly almost to posterior margin, and ending just before it, a trifle anterior to this, they are carried on laterally under the eyes by a series of small, raised pustules. Scutellum longer than the pronotum, 3-carinate, the middle keel entire, lateral margins of posterior prolongation straight. Anterior and intermediate legs simple, not dilated. Posterior tibiae longer than tarsi with 2 lateral and 4 apical spines; first tarsal segment longer than the others together. Tibial spur three-fourths of the length of the tibia, with about 40 spinelets. Species dimorphic or monomorphic. (Kirkaldy 1906)

Frons with median carina forked near middle; antennae with basal segment triangular and compressed; vertex much broader than long; post-tibial spur with more than 30 teeth; pygofer with a pair of processes ventrally on hind margin (Fennah 1965)

ID Keys

Fennah 1965: 4

Diagnosis References

Fennah, R.G. 1965. Delphacidae from Australia and New Zealand (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 17(1): 1-59 [4]

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [404–405]

History of changes