Species Amrasca biguttula (Ishida, 1913)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Chlorita biguttula Ishida, M. 1913. Report on pests of cotton. Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Special Publication 13 [Date published 12 March 1913].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown sex, quantity unknown, Taiwan.
• Empoasca biguttula Shiraki, T. 1913. Investigation upon insects injurious to cotton. Special Report of the Formosa Agricultural Experiment Station 5: 1-282 [In Japanese] [96].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown sex, quantity unknown, Taiwan.
• Empoasca bipunctata Schumacher, F. 1915. Homoptera. H. Sauter's Formosa-Ausbeute. Supplementa Entomologica 4: 108–142 [127] [junior homonym; of Chloria bipunctata Oshanin, 1871].

  Type data:

   Holotype SDEI Tainan, Taiwan (by monotypy).
• Chlorita bimaculata Matsumura, S. 1916. [no title]. Applied Entomology [title in Japanese] 1(1): 1–731 [393].

  Type data:

   Lectotype MATS ♂, Okinawa, Japan.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Dworakowska, I. 1970. On some genera of Typhlocybini and Empoascini (Auchenorrhyncha, Cicadellidae, Typhlocybinae). Bulletin de l'Académie Polonaise des Sciences. Série des Sciences Biologiques 18(11): 707-716 [712].
• Empoasca devastans Distant, W.L. 1918. Rhynchota. Homoptera: Appendix. Heteroptera: Addenda. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma 7(i-viii): 1-210 [93].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH ♂ (coll: H. Lefroy. Ghauri (1983) provided details of the lectotype designation which he attributes to Ghauri (1967) but there is no such designation in Ghauri (1967) so the designation is attributed to Ghauri (1983)), Nagpur, India.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Ghauri, M.S.K. 1967. New mango leafhoppers from the Oriental and Austro-oriental regions (Homoptera: Cicadelloidea). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B) 36(11-12): 159-189 [163].
• Empoasca quadrinotatissima Dlabola, J. 1957. Die Zikaden Afghanistans (Homopt.-Auchenorrhyncha). Mitteilungen Münchner Entomologischen Gesellschaft e. V. 47: 265–303. Pl. VII–XVII [296].

  Type data:

   Holotype ZFMK ♀ (coll: Klapperich, 21.viii.1953, 1600m), Tangi Gharuh, Kabul River, Afghanistan.
• Empoasca schumacheri Metcalf, Z.P. 1968. General Catalogue of the Homoptera Fascicle VI. Cicadelloidea. Pt 17. Cicadellidae. U.S. Dept of Agriculture 1513pp. [353] [replacement name; for Empoasca bipunctata Schumacher, 1915].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Dworakowska, I. 1970. On some genera of Typhlocybini and Empoascini (Auchenorrhyncha, Cicadellidae, Typhlocybinae). Bulletin de l'Académie Polonaise des Sciences. Série des Sciences Biologiques 18(11): 707-716 [712] (synonymy of E. bipunctata, C. bimaculata, E. devastans, E. quadrinotatissima)

Generic Combinations

• Sundapteryx biguttula (Ishida, 1913) Dworakowska 1970.
• Amrasca biguttula (Ishida, 1913) Chopra 1973.
• Amrasca devastans (Distant, 1918) Ghauri 1967.

Introduction

This species has had a complex nomenclatural history which is probably not yet completely settled. The original material on which both Ishida (1913) and Shiraki (1913) published was independently sent to the Japanese entomologist Shonen Matsumura by both workers from Taiwan. According to Ghauri (1983) the specimens were probably returned to both Ishida and Shiraki with identification labels attached and accompanied by a description. The whereabouts of this material is currently unknown and it is probably lost. Ishida (1913) and Shiraki (1913) published the name and description in local reports although both workers credited the description to Matsumura. Ishida's report was published first and is therefore the valid first publication of the name. Matsumura (1916) subsequently described Chlorita bimaculata based on material from Japan. Since Matsumura used a different name from the one he had sent to Ishida and Shiraki, he may have considered his species not to be the same as that occurring in Taiwan. Dworakowska (1970) based her recognition of the species on Matsumura's type material of Chlorita bimaculata and designated a male lectotype from this material. Ghauri (1983) reviewed the nomenclatural history of the species and recommended use of the name which was in most common usage at the time, which was Distant's (1918) Empoasca devastans because of the uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts of Ishida's original material, the doubt about Dworakowska's (1970) recognition of the species based on Matsumura's (1916) Japanese material and the fact that Distant's name was based on a specimen in the British Museum which was well documented. However, since Ghauri (1983) had indicated that the correct name for the species, pending examination of type material from Taiwan, was probably Amrasca biguttula biguttula (Ishida), the oriental literature started using this name in preference to Distant's devastans thereby removing any argument about retaining Amrasca devastans due to common usage. To further complicate the issue, Schumacher (1915) described the species again from Taiwan and named it Empoasca bipunctata which ultimately became a junior homonym of Chloria bipunctata Oshanin (1871), which was later transferred into Empoasca and was replaced by Metcalf (1968) with the name Empoasca schumacheri Metcalf.

Dworakowska (1970) synonymised Zygina punctata Melichar (1914) with Sundapteryx biguttula but recognised it as a separate subspecies, thereby creating the nominal subspecies S. biguttula biguttula.

The Australian record is a single occurrence of A. biguttula biguttula (Ishida) from Christmas Island although specimens which were originally thought to be this species were recorded from Darwin in 2001 as a presumed incursion from East Timor. Since the specimens in Darwin would not feed on cotton (S. Smith, pers. comm. 2001), it appeared that they were not A. biguttula biguttula and may have either been A. biguttula punctata, which is thought to be more widespread than formally recognised, or an undescribed taxon. A revision of the genus, focussed particularly on the setation of the subgenital plates, is needed to confirm Dworakowska's (1970) proposal that biguttula, bipunctata, devastans and quadrinotatissima are all one taxon and distinct from punctata and other species recognised in the genus in the Oriental, Australian and Oceania regions.

Economic Importance
A. biguttula biguttula is a known pest of cotton in India and surrounding areas. It is also reported to be a pest of a wide range of crop plants iincluding okra, eggplant, sunflower, radish, tomato, Rhodes grass, sorghum, cowpea and maize but it is possible that the taxon is a complex of separate taxa with more restricted host ranges. The fact that the 2001 incursion in Darwin would not feed on cotton implies that there is greater host specificity within the genus than the recorded host range would imply and this demonstrates that a comprehensive revision of the genus is needed.

Distribution

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater

Diagnosis

Nahe verwandt mit E. melichari Dist, von Ceylon, aber durch abweichende Färbung und Zeichnung verschieden. Scheitel abgerundet dreieckig, fast so lang wie das Pronotum, gelbbraun, am Übergang zur Stirn mit einer weißlichen omega-artigen Zeichnung. Stirn, weißgelb mit weißer Mittellinie. Augen schwarzbraun. Pronotum graugelb, an den Seiten heller. Skutellum mitten hellgelb, in den Basalwinkeln mit großen dreieckigen dunkelgelben Flecken, in der Mitte der Basalhälfte mit eingestochener punktförmiger deutlicher Vertiefung. Deckflügel glänzend, gelblich, fast glashell, im Apicalteil stark irisierend, hinter der Clavusspitze mit schwarzem runden Punkt. Unterseite und Beine weißgelb. Länge 2.5 rnm. (Schumacher 1915, of Empoasca bipunctata)

Head, pronotum and scutellum pale ochraceous; vertex with two black spots on apical margin; face with the lateral areas more or less distinctly pale brownish; body beneath pale ochraceous; legs and tegmina pale greenish-ochraceous, the latter with a black spot near apex of each claval area; vertex of head short, conically rounded anteriorly, more than half as long as breadth between eyes; pronotum with three greyish-white spots near anterior margin; scutellum spotted with greyish-white; tegmina extending far beyond abdominal apex.
Length incl. tegm. 3 millim. (Distant 1918, of Empoasca devastans)

General References

Ghauri, M.S.K. 1983. Scientific name of the Indian cotton jassid. pp. 97–103 in Knight, W.J., Pant, N.C., Robertson, T.S. & Wilson, M.R. Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Biotaxonomy, Classification and Biology of Leafhoppers and Planthoppers (Auchenorrhyncha) of Economic Importance, London, 4–7 October 1982. London : Commonwealth Institute of Entomology 500 pp.

History of changes