Species Stenocotis depressa (Walker, 1851)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Ledra depressa Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [817].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (R. Butler collection), "Van Diemen's Land", = Tasmania.
• Ledra brevis Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [820].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂ (from Mr Lambert's collection), New Holland.
• Ledra australis Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [821].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂ (from Mr Argent's collection), New Holland.
• Ledra corticalis Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [814].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (Presented by the Entomological Club), New Holland.
• Ledra varia Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [819].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 2 ♂ (Presented by the Rev. T. Ewing Presented by R. Butler Esq.), "Van Diemen's Land" = Tasmania.
• Ledra ferruginea Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [817].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (From Mr Schuckard's collection), "Van Diemen's Land" = Tasmania.
• Ledra conferta Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [818].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (Presented by J.C. Bowring Esq.), "Hong Kong"
  Comment: This type locality is almost certainly incorrect (Evans 1966: 104).
• Ledra unicolor Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [819].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (Presented by J.C. Bowring Esq.), "Philippines"
  Comment: This type locality is almost certainly incorrect (Evans 1966: 104).
• Ledra costalis Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 3 pp. 637-907. [821].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂ (abdomen missing), New Holland
  Comment: although the holotype lacks an abdomen, its size and dark coloration indicate that it is a male (Day & Fletcher 1994: 1130).
• Stenocotis planiuscula Stål, C. 1854. Nya Hemiptera. Öfversigt af Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar. Stockholm 11(8): 231-255 [254].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) NHMW sex, quantity unknown, Nova Hollandia.
• Stenocotis subvittata Stål, C. 1854. Nya Hemiptera. Öfversigt af Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar. Stockholm 11(8): 231-255 [254].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) NHMW sex, quantity unknown, Nova Hollandia.
• Ledra delineata Walker, F. 1858. List of specimens of Homopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Supplement. London : British Museum (Natural History) 369 pp. [250].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH sex unknown (From Mr Stevens' collection), South Australia.
• Stenocotis dimorpha Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [27].

  Type data:

   Holotype BPBM ♂ (coll.: xi.1904), Bundaberg, Queensland
  Comment: Kirkaldy (1907) stated that he had both sexes but, because of the possibility that they represented two species, he selected the male as type, thereby designating a holotype.
• Stenocotis reticulata Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [27].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BPBM ♀, quantity unknown (coll.: vi.1905), Brisbane, Queensland.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Stål, C. 1862. Synonymiska och systematiska anteckningar öfver Hemiptera. Öfversigt af Kongelige Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, Stockholm 19(9): 479-504 [495] (synonymy of S. subvittata, L. delineata)
• Evans, J.W. 1937. Australian Leafhoppers (Jassoidea: Homoptera). Part 7. — Stenocotidae. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 11(2): 157-164 [158] (synonymy of L. varia, L. costalis)
• Evans, J.W. 1966. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 12: 1-347 [105] (synonymy of L. brevis, L. australis, L. corticalis, L. ferruginea, L. conferta, L. unicolor, S. planiuscula, S. dimorpha, S. reticulata)

 

Generic Combinations

• Stenocotis depressa (Walker, 1851). —
  Stål, C. 1862. Synonymiska och systematiska anteckningar öfver Hemiptera. Öfversigt af Kongelige Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, Stockholm 19(9): 479-504 [495]

 

Introduction

This common and widespread species is highly variable in size and colour across its range. Males tend to be smaller and darker than females and both sexes are commonly seen exposed on eucalypt trunks during daylight hours. All genera of Stenocotini are exclusively Australian (Jones & Deitz, 2009), although two of the species synonymised with S. depressa by Evans (1966) are labelled from overseas locations, Ledra conferta Walker 1851 from Hong Kong and L. unicolor Walker 1851 from the Philippines. Evans (1966: 104) has concluded that these locality records are almost certainly incorrect.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

 

Diagnosis

Ferruginea, subtus testacea; caput nigro vittatum, subtus nigro fasciatum; thorax depressus, transverse striatus; scutum piceo quinquevittatum; abdomen subtus nigro vittatum; pedes testacei; femoribus posterioribus tibiisque posticis apice nigris, alae anticae ferrugineae, apice sublimpidae; alae posticae sublimpidae.
Like L. planirostris in structure. Pale ferruginous, testaceous beneath; head not broader than the chest, not arched, hardly concave above, finely striated longitudinally, short-conical on the fore border, very slightly convex on each side, very concave on the hind border, with a black middle stripe; its length not more than one-fourth of its breadth; on each side of the fore border a spindleshaped concave compartment, whose disk is black; face with a slight keel, black along the front and towards the epistoma, which has a black stripe on each side; chest almost flat, finely striated transversely; shield almost conical along the fore border, with five slight pitchy stripes; middle one in front, very short; inner pair zigzag; outer pair short; hind border concave in the middle, convex on each side; abdomen with a black stripe beneath: legs pale testaceous; tips of the posterior-thighs and of the hind-shanks black; fore-wings ferruginous, with almost colourless tips; hindwings almost colourless. Length of the body 8½ lines; of the wings 15 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. 3 pp. 637-907. [817–818]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
20-Sep-2011		20-Sep-2011	MOVED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)