Species Platybrachys leucostigma (Walker, 1851)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Eurybrachys leucostigma Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 2 pp. 261-636. [388].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (presented by the Haslar Hospital; holotype by monotypy), New Holland.
• Platybrachys aerata Distant, W.L. 1893. Contributions to a knowledge of the homopterous family Fulgoridae. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 1892: 275-286 [282].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) BMNH sex, quantity unknown, Samoa; BMNH sex, quantity unknown, Queensland.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Hacker, H. 1924. Field notes on Platybrachys &c (Homoptera). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 8(1): 37-42 [39]

 

Generic Combinations

• Platybrachys leucostigma (Walker, 1851). —
  Stål, C. 1862. Synonymiska och systematiska anteckningar öfver Hemiptera. Öfversigt af Kongelige Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, Stockholm 19(9): 479-504 [488]

 

Introduction

Details of the life history of this species were provided by Hacker (1924) including notes on natural enemies and a description of the two "tails" found on the nymphs which are described as excremental material secreted from two multilocular pores on the upper surface of the rear end of the abdomen. These tails of excrement are discarded when the nymph sheds its skin at the end of each instar. Such tails are found on the nymphs of all eurybrachids and would appear to be an adaptation for water retention since liquid excrement is not produced. In the same work, Hacker (1924) synonymised P. aerata Distant with P. leucostigma (Walker) on the basis of long series which he had collected of both species, usually on the same tree trunks, one of which was entirely males and the other entirely females. This indicated that P. aerata was the male of P. leucostigma. The distribution given here is based on Hacker (1924) and will almost certainly be expanded once the identities of material held in collections has been determined through a revision of the genus. Walker's (1851) original description simply records "New Holland". The record from Samoa comes from China (1935) and needs to be confirmed.

 

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Samoa.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

Qld: South Eastern Queensland (SEQ)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

 

Diagnosis

Body ferruginous, dull, minutely rugulose, adorned with black marks; head as broad as the chest, its breadth more than twice its length; crown short, slightly curved, surrounded by a ridge; face broad, flat, tawny, not marked with black, surrounded by a slight ridge, scutcheon-shaped, concave in the middle of the suture, where it joins the epistoma which is red; mouth tawny, clothed with short black hairs, reaching the middle-hips; third joint brown, about half the lendth of the second; eyes hardly prominent; fore-chest short, luteous and convex in front, having a short cross-ridge which joins the fore border on each side and includes with it a spindle-shaped compartment; scutcheon of the middle-chest with three very indistinct ridges, the side pair curved; hind-chest short, transversely ridged; abdomen obconical, not longer than the chest, luteous on each side towards the tip which is thickly clothed with white filaments; legs broad, red, furrowed; feet blackish; hind-shanks armed with stout black-tipped spines; fore-wings ferruginous, adorned with three black spots which form an interrupted band across the middle; reticulated part mostly tawny, brown at the tip, occupying more than one-third of the surface, adorned with black and white marks along the border; veins ferruginous; hind-wings tawny, dark brown along the hind border and towards the tip, where there is a white spot; a tawny spot on the hind border; veins ferruginous, brown towards the tips. Length of the body 3.5 lines; of the wings 11 lines. (Walker 1851)

 

Diagnosis References

Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 2 pp. 261-636. [388–389]

 

General References

Hacker, H. 1924. Field notes on Platybrachys &c (Homoptera). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 8(1): 37-42

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
30-Nov-2010		30-Nov-2010	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)