Species Maiestas veta (Knight, 1975)

Maiestas veta (Knight), adult.

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Deltocephalus (Recilia) vetus Knight, W.J. 1975. Deltocephalinae of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 2(2): 169-208 [203].

  Type data:

   Holotype NZAC ♂ (coll.: 4.ii.1972, 1037 m, on low shrubs by lateral moraine, W.J. Knight & P.S. Broomfield), Tasman Valley, Mount Cook National Park, Canterbury Province, 6.4 km S of Ball Hut, New Zealand.
• Maiestas veta Fletcher, M.J. and Dai, W. 2018. Two new species of Maiestas Distant (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Deltocephalini) with a new record from Australia. Zootaxa 4521(3): 430–440 [433] [emendation; Species epithet corrected to match gender of genus.].

Generic Combinations

• Recilia (Togacephala) vetus (Knight, 1975). —
  Day, M.F. & Fletcher, M.J. 1994. An annotated catalogue of the Australian Cicadelloidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Invertebrate Taxonomy 8: 1117-1288 [1204]
• Maiestas vetus (Knight, 1975). —
  Webb, M.D. & Viraktamath, C.A. 2009. Annotated check-list, generic key and new species of Old World Deltocephalini leafhoppers with nomenclatorial changes in the Deltocephalus group and other Deltocephalinae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Cicadellidae). Zootaxa 2163: 1-64 [19]

Introduction

This common grass-feeding leafhopper is widespread in mainland Australia and New Zealand.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), New England Tablelands (NET), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

This species can usually be differentiated from other species of Maiestas by the presence of pale brown longitudinal stripes on the dorsum of the head and pronotum. The circular brown spot in the centre of the tegmen is also diagnostic but it is not always present. The male genitalia, as described and figured by Knight (1975), are the most reliable means of identifying the species.

Diagnosis References

Knight, W.J. 1975. Deltocephalinae of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 2(2): 169-208 [203–204]

History of changes