Genus Xestocephalus Van Duzee, 1892

Museums

Regional Maps

• Xestocephalus Van Duzee, E.P. 1892. A synoptical arrangement of the genera of North American Jassidae, with descriptions of some new species. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 19: 295-307 [298].

  Type species:

   Xestocephalus pulicarius Van Duzee, 1894 by subsequent designation, see Distant, W.L. 1908. Rhynchota. — Vol. IV. Homoptera and Appendix. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma 4: 1-501 [348].
• Nesotettix Lindberg, H. 1936. Die Cicadinen der Kanarischen Inseln. Commentationes Biologicae Societas Scientiarum Fennicae 6(9): 1-19 [6] [junior homonym; of Nesotettix Holdhaus, 1909].

  Type species:

   Nesotettix freyi Lindberg, 1936 by original designation.
• Lindbergana Metcalf, Z.P. 1952. New names in the Homoptera. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 42: 226-231 [229] [replacement name; for Nesotettix Lindberg, 1936].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Linnavuori, R.E. 1959. Revision of the Neotropical Deltocephalinae and some related subfamilies (Homoptera). Annales Zoologici Fennici 20(1): 1-370 [36]

Introduction

The five Australian species of this world-wide genus are not well defined and a comprehensive examination of material in collections may reveal additional undescribed species. The species were listed by Evans (1966) with brief descriptions which can be used to diagnose the known species. One of the five species is restricted to Christmas Island. All the species are dark with varying pale circular markings on the tegmina.

Distribution

States

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

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, Tas, Vic, WA: Darwin Coastal (DAC), Jarrah Forest (JF), NSW North Coast (NNC), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater

Diagnosis

Head tumid and rounded before, ocelli placed on the rounded anterior edge superiorly, distant from the eyes; vertex convex, closely evenly punctured, without longitudinal rugae (Van Duzee 1892).

Body robust. Face broad; anteclypeus broadening apically; frontoclypeus very broad, nearly circular. Crown roundedly produced, convex, sloping anteriorly, distinctly longer medially than next eyes. Distance from ocelli to eyes about 1/3 or ½ the distance from eyes to apex of head. Pronotum broad, lateral margins short, disk often scaly or rugose. Elytra with three closed subapical cells. Spinulation of fore tibiae 1 + 4; of hind knees 2 + 2 + 1. Male genitalia. Pygofer short and sclerified; side lobes broad, roundedly truncate apically, with a short process on the median surface, with macrosetae. Anal tube small, sclerified. Valve large, pentagonal. Genital plates long, parallel-sided, with a few macrosetae at the middle. Stylus with gonapophysis long, apex enlarged and boot-shaped, preapical lobe roundedly produced laterad. Penis symmetrical, socle large, stem usually with appendages; gonopore on the ventral surface (Linnavuori 1959).

Diagnosis References

Linnavuori, R.E. 1959. Revision of the Neotropical Deltocephalinae and some related subfamilies (Homoptera). Annales Zoologici Fennici 20(1): 1-370 [36]

Van Duzee, E.P. 1892. A synoptical arrangement of the genera of North American Jassidae, with descriptions of some new species. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 19: 295-307 [298]

History of changes