Species Zaletta nereias (Kirkaldy, 1907)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Idiocerus nereias Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [34].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BPBM ♂ (coll.: i.1905, Koebele), Sydney, New South Wales.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Webb, M.D. 1983. Revision of the Australian Idiocerinae (Hemiptera: Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 92: 1-147 [43].
• Idiocerus fucatus Evans, J.W. 1942. New leafhoppers (Homoptera: Jassoidea) from Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 27: 143-163 [150].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ (coll.: 11-21.i.1936, R.E. Turner), Dedari, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1120] (details of R.E. Turner's collecting sites in Australia).

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Webb, M.D. 1983. Revision of the Australian Idiocerinae (Hemiptera: Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 92: 1-147 [42] (synonymy of Idiocerus fucatus Evans)

 

Generic Combinations

• Zaletta nereias (Kirkaldy, 1907). —
  Webb, M.D. 1983. Revision of the Australian Idiocerinae (Hemiptera: Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 92: 1-147 [42]

 

Introduction

This species, which is somewhat variable in colouring, is widespread across southern Australia. It has been swept from Leptospermum (Myrtaceae) but whether this is a host association is unknown.

 

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Ben Lomond (BEL), Coolgardie (COO), Jarrah Forest (JF), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder (associated flora: Leptospermum ellipticum Endlicher [MYRTACEAE]).

 

Diagnosis

Pale greyish-yellow, more or less suffused with orange, subiridescent. Eyes fuscous. Head and eyes much wider than, and strongly decumbent on, the pronotum. Vertex dorsally about as wide in the middle as at the eyes, gently rounded anteriorly, Frons rounded in profile, clypeus wider apically than at the base. Tegminal veins very feeble. Female: last sternite slightly emarginate roundly. Length 3¾ mm. (Kirkaldy 1907).

This species is similar to [Zaletta] lesmurdiensis, hattahensis, agreeva and rubens in the shape of the second valvulae and, together with lesmurdiensis, it has the face entirely shagreen. It differs from lesmurdiensis and hattahensis in having the first r–m crossvein of the forewing short and from these two species and rubens in the shape of the female pregenital sternite. It can also be distinguished by the shape and arrangement of the aedeagal processes (Webb 1983).

 

ID Keys

Webb 1983: 31–33

 

Diagnosis References

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1907. Leafhoppers — Supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 3: 1-186 [34–35]

Webb, M.D. 1983. Revision of the Australian Idiocerinae (Hemiptera: Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 92: 1-147 [42–43]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
26-Jun-2023	MEMBRACOIDEA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
10-May-2022	CICADOMORPHA	24-May-2023	MODIFIED
02-Jun-2021	AUCHENORRHYNCHA	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
05-Dec-2019	CICADELLIDAE Latreille, 1825	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Murray Fletcher
05-Dec-2019	Idiocerinae Baker, 1915	26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Murray Fletcher
05-Dec-2019		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED
		26-Jun-2023	MODIFIED