Genus Nicetor Fennah, 1963

[Back to Higher classification of Delphacidae]

Family Delphacidae Leach, 1815

Subfamily Delphacinae Leach, 1815

Tribe Delphacini Leach, 1815

Genus Nicetor Fennah, 1963

Synonyms: none.

Type species (in original combination): Dicranotropis brunnea Muir, 1926.

Distribution

Argentina, Brazil (the map in FLOW is very incomplete)

Recognized species

This genus is represented by two species

Nicetor brunnea (Muir, 1926) – Argentina
Nicetor pallidinervis (Muir, 1926) – Brazil
(I have seen apparently undescribed species from Brazil and Venezuela)

Economic importance

Limited, this genus is evidently seldom encountered.

Plant associations

Collected from the bamboo Chusquea sp.

Recognition

Similar to Euides in the sense of the New World species.

Description verbatim (OCR) from Fennah 1963 [note ‘Euidella’ is synonym of Euides].

Width of head, including eyes, much narrower than width of pronotum. Vertex about as long medially as broad at base, obtusely rounding into frons, as wide at apex as at base, lateral margins straight, apical margin transverse, with submedian carinae moderately prominent, Y-shaped carina distinct, submedian carinae not uniting on vertex, basal compartment of vertex wider at hind margin than greatest length (more than 2: 1); frons in middle line longer than wide at widest part (about 2: 1), widest at level of antennae, lateral margins concave between eyes, straight distally, median carina forked at level of base of antennae, clypeus at base not wider than frons at apex, postclypeal disc longer than broad at base, in profile almost straight, anteclypeus in profile strongly convex; rostrum long, attaining· post-trochanters; antennae reaching about to level of middle of clypeus, basal segment longer than broad (2.5: 1 or 3: 1), second segment slightly longer than first; ocelli distinct, small. Pronotum with disc longer in middle line than broad at anterior margin, lateral carinae concave, diverging posteriorly, not attaining hind margin. Total length of mesonotum greater than that of scutellum (about 2: 1). Forelegs laterally compressed, but not foliately expanded; post-tibial spur with 35-40 teeth; basal metatarsal segment longer than second and third combined. Tegmina with Sc+R fork about level with union of claval veins, Cu 1 fork more distad; common claval veins only about half as long as the separate portion of the anterior vein. Anal segment of male narrowly ring-like, lateroapical angles not produced in a process. Pygofer margin unarmed, lower margin produced caudad medially in a spinose process medioventral process absent. Genital styles moderately each expanding distad.

Type species, Dicranotropis brunnea Muir 1926 b: 24.

This genus differs from Dicranotropis in the form of the spur, the rostrum and antennae, the proportions of the post· tarsal segments, the position of the forks in the tegmina! veins. From Euidella, to which it is perhaps nearest, it differs in the truncate anterior margin of the vertex the compressed fore and middle legs, the tegminal venation, the pattern of the male genitalia, and in the relatively broader bodily form. A distinctive feature most readily to be seen is provided by the outline of the head and thorax in dorsal view: a line from each tegula to the middle of the apical margin of the head meets its fellow there at a right angle, or nearly so.  By contrast, in those species of Euidella in which the head is appreciably narrower than the width of the pronotum the angle so made is acute. The only other species that can at present be referred to this genus is Dicranotropis pallidinervis Muir (1962 b: 4 [sic 1926: 24-25]).

Nicetor nr pallidinervis

Nicetor nr. pallidinervis

Molecular resources

None.

Selected References

Fennah, R. G. 1963. New Delphacidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) from South America and West Africa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 13(5):689-700.

Leach W. E. 1815. Entomology. The Edinburgh Encyclopedia 9: 57-172. (P. 125)

Muir, F.A.G. 1926b. Contributions to our knowledge of South American Fulgoroidea (Homoptera). Part I. The Family Delphacidae. Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, Entomological Series, Bulletin 18:1-51, plates 1-5.