[Back to North American Cixiidae]
Family Cixiidae Spinola, 1839
Subfamily Cixiinae Spinola, 1839
Tribe Pentastirini Emeljanov, 1971
Genus Cilidius Hendrix & Bartlett 2025
Type species. Cixius vicarius Walker, 1851
Distribution
Generally eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada; as far west as western Texas.
Recognized species
Cilidius quinquelineatus (Say, 1830): Canada (NS, ON, QC); USA (AL, AR, CT, CO, DE, FL,GA, IA, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, ME, MN, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, WI).
Cilidius vicarius (Walker, 1851): USA (FL, GA, NC, SC).
= Cixius testaceus Walker, 1851,
Economic Importance
Not reported as pests,
Plant associations
Cilidius quinquelineatus – Quercus ellipsoidalis E.J.Hill (Fagaceae), Quercus laevis Walter (Fagaceae), Carya sp. (Juglandaceae), Pinus virginiana Mill. (Pinaceae), Solidago sp. (Asteraceae) (Mead & Kramer 1982).
Recognition
Relatively large (~5–8 mm) with a proportionately narrower head relative to the prothorax; vertex wider at posterior margin than a midline. Face relatively narrow; maculae of the frons present, but obscure. Carinae of mesonotum prominent. Forewings transparent (sometimes variable marked with fuscous, especially females), with veins pale and prominent dark tubercles. Male pygofer with large bluntly sagittate medioventral process. Ventral periandrium with sclerotized area with two processes bearing an array of spine-like processes, endosoma weakly angled left from ventral view.
A key to genus is in Hendrix & Bartlett (2025). North American species can be keyed out by Mead & Kramer (1982).
Online resources
Specimens may also be found most readily by beating or vacuum sampling woody vegetation.
Selected references
Bartlett, C.R., L.B. O’Brien & S.W. Wilson. 2014. A review of the planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) of the United States. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 50: 1–287.
Hendrix, S.V. & C.R. Bartlett. 2025. Reclassification of the planthopper genus Melanoliarus Fennah, 1945 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae), primarily north of Mexico, with notes on American Pentastirini. Zootaxa, 5619(1), 1–87. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5619.1.1
Hoch, H. 2005. On the identity of the type species of the planthopper genus Oliarus Stål, 1862, Oliarus walkeri (Stål, 1859) (Hemiptera: Cixiidae). Zootaxa 1056: 53–60.
Holzinger, W.E., A.F. Emeljanov & I. Kammerlander. 2002. The family Cixiidae Spinola 1839 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) – a review. Pp. 113-138. In: Holzinger, W. (ed.). Zikaden: Leafhoppers, Planthoppers, and Cicadas (Insecta: Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Denisia, Volume 4. Oberosterreichisches Landesmuseum, Linz, Austria. 556 pp.
Mead, F.W. & J.P. Kramer. 1982. Taxonomic study of the planthopper genus Oliarus in the United States (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Cixiidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 107: 381–569.
Metcalf, Z.P. 1936. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV Fulgoroidea . Part 2 Cixiidae. Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts. 269 pp.
Say, T. 1830a+b. Descriptions of new North American hemipterous insects, belonging to the first family of the section Homoptera of Latreille. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 6:235–244, 299–314.
Walker, F. 1851. List of the specimens of Homopterous Insects in the collection of the British Museum. British Museum, London. 2: 261–636.
Wilson, S.W., C. Mitter, R.F. Denno & M.R. Wilson.1994. Evolutionary patterns of host plant use by delphacid planthoppers and their relatives. In: R.F. Denno and T.J. Perfect, (eds.). Planthoppers: Their Ecology and Management. Chapman and Hall, New York. Pp. 7–45 & Appendix.
