[Back to North American Cixiidae]
Family Cixiidae Spinola, 1839
Subfamily Cixiinae Spinola, 1839
Tribe Pentastirini Emeljanov, 1971
Genus Lapsium Hendrix & Bartlett 2025
Type species. Oliarus difficilis Van Duzee, 1912
Distribution
Gulf states of the U.S.; with specimen records from Belize and Dominica
Recognized species
Lapsium difficile (Van Duzee, 1912): USA (FL, MS, TX).
= Lapsium difficilis (Van Duzee, 1912)
= Oliarus vittatus Metcalf, 1923
Economic Importance
Not reported as pests,
Plant associations
Lapsium difficilis – “Mimosa borealis” [Gray]; Celtis laevigata Willdenow (as Celtis mississippiensis) (Mead & Kramer 1982).
Recognition
Medium-sized (~4.5–5.0 mm), reddish-brown (mesonotum sometimes paler medially). Lateral maculae of vertex distinct, maculae of frons highly reduced and diffuse. Forewings clear, tubercles distinct on veins, vein forks and some crossveins embrowned; RP 2-branched. Male terminalia with medioventral process of pygofer triangular, less than half of length of lateral lobes; lateral lobes narrow with obtuse apices; in ventral view sinistral and dextral processes of the periandrium highly reduced to small triangular protrusions; two large, slender processes on ventral periandrium, one of which is directly behind sinistral process; endosoma curved to left with apex recurved right with two long apical processes directed right-cephalad (Hendrix & Bartlett 2025).
A key to genus is in Hendrix & Bartlett (2025). North American species can be keyed out by Mead & Kramer (1982).
Online resources
Collecting
Specimens are not often encountered.
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. 1923. A key to the Fulgoridae of Eastern North America with descriptions of new species. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 38 (3), 139–230, 32 pls. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.7606
Metcalf, Z.P. 1936. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV Fulgoroidea . Part 2 Cixiidae. Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts. 269 pp.
Van Duzee, E.P. 1912. Hemipterological gleanings. Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 10, 477–512.
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.
