Species Polychaetophyes serpulidia Kirkaldy, 1906

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• Polychaetophyes serpulidia Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [385].

  Type data:

   Holotype BPBM HSPA #378 ♀ (xi.1904), Bundaberg, Queensland.

 

Introduction

This species is distinctive because of its hump-backed appearance, pinkish brown colouring with minute dark specks and transverse banding on the tegmen. It is distributed primarily across the tropical and subtropical parts of the country.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Sturt Plateau (STU), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: xylem feeder.

 

Diagnosis

Pale yellowish brown suffused with reddish. Pronotum yellowish with greenish and reddish tinges. Scutellum reddish, obscurely pallid in the middle and posteriorly. Anterior and interior legs more or less dark, posterior legs more or less pale. Tegmina subhyaline, colorless; basal third of corium and clavus and apex of clavus dark brownish (more or less ruddy), apical fourth yellowish brown. Granulations dark brown. Pronotum very lightly carinate longitudinally; much wider than head and eyes. Scutellum shallowly channelled along its anterior three fourths, posterior fourth carinate. Length: 6 3/4–8 mill. (Kirkaldy 1906).

Female. Postclypeus convex, with dense, moderately coarse punctures; lateral area strongly descending, with about 11 transverse impressed lines (including 5 on tylus). Gena and lorum densely, longly haired and moderately coarsely punctate; relative breadths of pleurostome and lorum and length of gena proper 4.5 : 3 : 3. Crown irregularly punctate-rugose; occipital margin strongly reflexed; tylus somewhat flattened; side piece of vertex nearly plane, anteriorly rounded off to antennal ledge; tentorial pit roundish, very shallow; ocellus distinctly closer to tylus than to occiput; ocellar area strongly raised at middle. Pronotum with intersecting, strong rugae, no distinct punctures; ante-callus area slightly depressed, finely rugose, and with a distinct submarginal furrow running parallel to anterior margin; lateral area irregularly punctate-rugose; posterior margin very broadly sinuate at middle. Scutellum moderately convex, wrinkled; discal depression large, longer than wide; apical 1/4 smooth, weakly concave, laterally weakly reflexed. Tegmen coarsely, very densly and deeply punctate at basal 2/5 and along costal margin, elsewhere very sparsely so; costal cells and longitudinal veins with scattered brown granules which are slightly wider than veins; basicostal depression rather shallow. Relative lengths of pronotum and scutellum 32 : 32; relative breadths of head, pronotum and scutellum 38 : 50 : 22. Body length 6-8 mm.
Male. Similar. Tegmen paler. Relative lengths of pronotum and scutellum 30 : 30; relative breadths of head, pronotum and scutellum 34 : 46 : 21. Body length 6.5 mm. (Maa 1963)

 

Diagnosis References

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [385]

Maa, T.C. 1963. A review of the Machaerotidae (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea). Pacific Insects Monographs 5: 1-166 [36]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
27-Apr-2012		27-Apr-2012	MODIFIED
31-May-2010		31-May-2010	ADDED
31-May-2010		31-May-2010	ADDED
		24-Mar-2010	MODIFIED