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Family Cixiidae Spinola, 1839
Subfamily Cixiinae Spinola, 1839
Tribe Pentastirini Emeljanov, 1971
Genus Sonorium Hendrix & Bartlett 2025
Type species Oliarus corvinus Ball, 1934.
Distribution
Western U.S. and Canada to Mexico; Florida.
Recognized species
Sonorium altanatus (Caldwell, 1951): USA (TX); Mexico (Chiapas, Jalapa, Federal District, Hidalgo, Morelos, Vera Cruz).
Sonorium concinnulus (Fowler, 1904): Mexico (Guerrero, Vera Cruz).
Sonorium corvinus (Ball, 1934): USA (AZ, CA, TX).
Sonorium dondonius (Ball, 1934): Canada (AB, BC, SK); USA (AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, OR, TX, UT); Mexico (Baja California; Mulge, San Francisco, San Lorenzo, and Santa Inez Islands).
Sonorium littoralis (Ball, 1934): USA (FL).
Sonorium sylvaticus (Caldwell, 1947): USA (CA).
Sonorium zyxus (Caldwell, 1947): Canada (BC); USA (AZ, CA, CO, ID, NM, NV, OR, TX, UT); Mexico (Coahuila, Nayarit, Nuevo León).
Economic Importance
Not reported as pests.
Plant associations
Sonorium littoralis – “Tidal salt flat situations where salt marsh grasses predominate” (Mead & Kramer 1982).
Sonorium sylvaticus – “Habitats characterized by desert oaks” (Mead & Kramer 1982).
Sonorium zyxus – “Grasses,” Carex sp. (Cyperaceae), Baccharis sergilloides A. Gray (Asteraceae), Monarda citriodora Cerv. ex Lag. (Lamiaceae), Atriplex spinifera J.F.Macbr. (Amaranthaceae) (Mead & Kramer 1982).
Recognition
Small planthoppers (mostly 4–5 mm); dark brown to black. Mesonotal carinae concolorous to bright orange (sometimes intermediate carinae concolorous with median and lateral carinae orange). Forewing clear (sometimes embrowned), veins pale, tubercles evident. Pygofer (ventral view) with triangular to weakly pentagonal medioventral process. Periandrium (ventral view) with prominent sinistral process ‘caliper-like’ in shape (bearing a ventral process that appears opposed to angled apex); dextral process variable in length; dorsum bearing single slender elongated process (dorsal view). Endosoma strongly arcuate, curved left in ventral view, bearing numerous processes apically.
Online resources
Collecting
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Selected references
Ball, E.D. 1934. The genus Oliarus and its allies in North America (Homoptera Fulgoriidae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 24(6), 268–276.
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.
Caldwell, J.S. 1947. New species of Oliarus Stål from Southwestern United States and Mexico (Homoptera: Cixiidae). The Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 23(4), 145–151.
Caldwell, J.S. 1951. New Cixiidae from Southern North America with notes on others (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). The Ohio Journal of Science, 51(1), 34–36.
Fowler, W.W. (1904) Order Rhynchota. Suborder Hemiptera-Homoptera. (Continued). Biologia Centrali-Americana, 1, 85–124.
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.
