Species Phantiopsis australiaca Melichar, 1905

Phantiopsis australiaca Melichar, adult

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Phantiopsis australiaca Melichar, L. 1905. Genera tria Fulgoridarum mundi antique. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici (Zoologica) 3: 473-477 [475].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown sex, quantity unknown, New South Wales.
• Aphanophantia cuscuticida Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [459].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BPBM 5434A ♂ (coll.: ii.1904, on Cuscuta grass), Sydney, New South Wales.
  Paralectotype(s) BPBM 5434 ♀ (coll: ii.1905, Koebele), Sydney, New South Wales; BPBM 12 ♂, 16 ♀ (coll: ii.1905), 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 [120].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [101] (synonymy of Aphanophantia cuscuticida Kirkaldy)

Introduction

This is the world's smallest planthopper reaching a total length of 2–2.5 mm. It is only known from SW Western Australia and the Sydney Basin in New South Wales. It is possible that it has a wider distribution in Australia but its small size means it has probably been overlooked by collectors. As noted under the entry for Phantiopsis, the records given in Metcalf (1957) of this species in Java and Japan are erroneous since these were based on Melichar (1914) who seems to have incorrectly proposed a synonymy of this species with Mimophantia maritima and the records from Java and Japan apply to that species and not to P. australiaca which is therefore an Australian endemic.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, WA: Jarrah Forest (JF), Sydney Basin (SB)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Pale testaceous or pale cinereous, tegmina a little smudged in places sometimes, with pale sordid brownish; nerves whitish. Abdomen blackish brown, posterior margins of segments pallid. Length 2–2½ mm (Kirkaldy 1906, of Aphanophantia cuscuticida Kirkaldy)

The male genitalia were figured by Fletcher (1979).

Diagnosis References

Fletcher, M.J. 1979. Notes on Australian Flatidae (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea) including a new synonymy. General and Applied Entomology 11: 67-71 [69]

History of changes