Species Ricania flavifrontalis Kirby, 1900

Museums

Regional Maps

• Ricania flavifrontalis Kirby, W.F. 1900. Homoptera. pp. 130-138 in Andrews, C.W. (ed.). A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): physical features and geology; with descriptions of the fauna and flora by numerous contributors. London : British Museum (Natural History) xiii 337 pp. [131].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 2, sex unknown (coll: i.1898), North Coast, Christmas Island.

Introduction

This is one of two ricaniid planthoppers known from Christmas Island, the other being Paurostauria delicata Kirby, both being endemic to the island. its placement in Ricania needs to be checked by a world-wide revision of the genus.

Distribution

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Head brown above; pronotum blackish on the back; abdomen blackish in the middle, otherwise rufo-testaceous; face and undersurface dull yellow, clypeus slightly broader than long, nearly square, but wth the lower angles slightly rounded off; a slight vertical carina. Tegmina brown, costa with a white or yellowish-white basal stripe, sometimes extending to two-fifths of the length of the tegmen. Beyond this the costa is marked with pale spots as far as a large white band on the costa at about two-thirds of its length; this band is subinterrupted below, and then turns obliquely outwards. This lower part extends for about half the length of the upper, and is much narrower, and rather pointed at the end. Within this is a broad white band, outwardly concave on its upper portion, and extending to the inner margin. The basal portion of the corium is much mottled with white. The lower part of the hind margin is dotted with white, and the marginal portion of the tegmen is marked off on the inside in one specimen by a row of hardly indicated white dots. Wings hyaline, with broad pale-brown borders. The fringes of both the tegmina and wings consist of very short, straight, isolated bristles, only visible under the microscope. Before the tip of the tegmina is a slightly oval black spot, rather large for the size of the insect. Long. corp. 3.25 mm; exp. al. 11–13 mm.
The white markings and well-marked subapical black dots will easliy distinguish this interesting little species. (Kirby 1900).

Diagnosis References

Kirby, W.F. 1900. Homoptera. pp. 130-138 in Andrews, C.W. (ed.). A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): physical features and geology; with descriptions of the fauna and flora by numerous contributors. London : British Museum (Natural History) xiii 337 pp. [131–132]

History of changes