Genus Vitroliarus Hendrix & Bartlett 2025

[Back to North American Cixiidae]

Family Cixiidae Spinola, 1839

Subfamily Cixiinae Spinola, 1839

Tribe Pentastirini Emeljanov, 1971

Genus Vitroliarus Hendrix & Bartlett 2025

Type species Oliarus ecologus Caldwell, 1947.

Distribution

Eastern and central U.S.

Recognized species

Vitroliarus ecologus (Caldwell, 1947): USA (AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, KS, KY, MD, MS, NC, NJ, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA).

Economic Importance

Not reported as pests.

Plant associations

Vitroliarus ecologus – “Floodplain woods,” “prairie meadow,” Lespedeza cuneata Don. (as Lespedeza serecia (Miq.); Fabaceae) (Mead & Kramer 1982). Asclepias sp. (as “milkweed;” Apocynaceae), Cornus kousa F. Buerger ex Hance (Cornaceae), Juglans nigra L. (Juglandaceae), Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae), Viburnum dentatum L. (Adoxaceae), Viburnum dilatatum Thunb. (Adoxaceae), Fagus sylvatica L. (Fagaceae), Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl (Oleaceae), Ligustrum vulgare L. (Oleaceae), Rhododendron mucronulatum Turcz. (Ericaceae), Rhododendron periclymenoides Michx. (Ericaceae), Cotoneaster lucidus Schltdl. (Rosaceae), Rosa multiflora Thunb. (Rosaceae), Lagerstroemia indica L. (Lythraceae), Akebia quinata (Houtt.) Decne (Lardizabalaceae), Carpinus caroliniana Walter (Betulaceae), Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae), Hedera helix L. (Araliaceae), Tilia cordata Mill. (Malvaceae), Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm. (Sapindaceae), Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud. (Paulowniaceae).

Recognition

Small planthoppers (about 4 mm), dark brown to black. Mesonotal carinae usually concolorous to mesonotum (sometimes median and lateral carinae orange). Forewings weakly fumose (especially apically), unmarked; veins pale, tubercles concolorous to veins; venation somewhat reduced (RP 2-branched, MP (4–5) branched). Medioventral process of male pygofer small and triangular. Periandrium with six total processes; ventral periandrium with two hyaline left apical processes and two acute and short median subapical processes directed caudad; dorsal periandrium with two long processes.

Vitroliarus ecologus (holotype, male); A) dorsal habitus view, B) lateral habitus view, C) frontal view, D) head and thorax; E) ventral view of cleared male terminalia.
Vitroliarus ecologus (holotype, male); A) dorsal habitus view, B) lateral habitus view, C) frontal view, D) head and thorax; E) ventral view of cleared male terminalia.
Annotated left forewing of Vitroliarus ecologus (male). Bold/black = primary veins, bold/green = cells, italics/black = crossveins; wing nomenclature following Bourgoin et al. (2015).
Annotated left forewing of Vitroliarus ecologus (male). Bold/black = primary veins, bold/green = cells, italics/black = crossveins; wing nomenclature following Bourgoin et al. (2015).
Vitroliarus ecologus aedeagal complex and pygofer (caudal view)
Vitroliarus ecologus aedeagal complex (ventral and dorsal view) and pygofer (caudal view) (From Mead & Kramer 1982)

Online resources

iNaturalist.
TaxonPages.

Collecting

Mainy by beating woodly vegetation

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.

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.

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.

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 & T.J. Perfect, (eds.). Planthoppers: Their Ecology and Management. Chapman and Hall, New York. Pp. 7–45 & Appendix.

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