Genus Microledrida Fowler, 1904

[Return to North American Cixiidae]

Family Cixiidae Spinola, 1839

Subfamily Cixiinae Spinola, 1839

Tribe Cixiini Spinola, 1839

Genus Microledrida Fowler, 1904

Type species: Microledrida asperata Fowler, 1904.

Synonyms

None.

Distribution

Southwestern US

Recognized species

There six species in this genus as follows

1. Microledrida arida Caldwell 1951 – Puerto Rico
2. Microledrida asperata Fowler 1904: 99 – Mexico (Guerrero)
3. Microledrida flava Metcalf, 1923 – USA: TX; Mexico (Tamaulipas)
4. Microledrida fuscata Van Duzee, 1914: 38 – USA: AZ, CA, TX; Mexico (Baja California)
5. Microledrida olor Kramer, 1983 – USA: TX (+ Mexico?)
6. Microledrida virida Caldwell 1944 – Guatemala

Economic Importance

Limited – infrequently encountered.

Plant associations

None

Recognition

Distinctive appearance – flattened, hirsute, head rather pointed, eyes elongate in lateral view (reminds me of the delphacid Neopunana)

Description of the genus from Caldwell & Martorell 1951

Greatly flattened dorsoventrally, face horizontal and ventral. Vertex with median carina; double apical carinae present apically united at center forming lateral fovae. Frons extremely broad, with median carina. Pronotum with median carina. Mesonotum tricarinate. Fore wing deflexed at nodal line; subhyaline; venular pustules very prominent. Posttibia with one or two preapical spines. Ovipositor complete. Aedeagus relatively simple, usually with two processes.

Microledrida fuscata (photo by Salvador Vitanza; Arizona, Santa Cruz County, Patagonia, 31.540223, -110.731370, August 19, 2018, sweeping vegetation, determined by Jason T. Botz)

Online resources

Bugguide

Collecting

Evidently by sweeping

Molecular resources 

As of this writing, there are no molecular data for this genus on Barcode of Life or Genbank (as of 23 Sept. 2018).

Selected references

Bartlett, C. R., L. B. O’Brien and 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. 1944. Notes on some less common genera of tropical Cixiidae (Homoptera). Ohio Journal of Science 44(6): 252-254.

Caldwell, J. S. and L. F. Martorell. 1951 [dated 1950]. Review of the Auchenorynchous [sic] Homoptera of Puerto Rico. Part II. The Fulgoroidea except Kinnaridae. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 34(2): 133-269.

Fennah, R. G. 1973. Three new cavernicolous species of Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from Mexico and Western Australia. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 86(38): 439-446. pdf [genus noted]

Fowler, W. W. 1904. Order Rhynchota. Suborder Hemiptera-Homoptera. (Continued). Biologia Centrali-Americana; contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America 1: 77-84, 85-124. (see p. 99)

Kramer, J. P. 1983. Taxonomic study of the planthopper family Cixiidae in the United States (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 109: 1-57.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1923a. 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, plus 32 plates. [from http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/jncas/]

Metcalf, Z. P. 1936. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV Fulgoroidea . Part 2 Cixiidae. Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1938a. The Fulgorina of Barro Colorado and other parts of Panama. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College 82: 277-423.  [p. 284 in key to genus]

Muir, F.A.G., 1925a. On the genera of Cixiidae, Meenoplidae and Kinnaridae (Fulgoroidea,. Homoptera). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 1: 97-110.  [listed – oddly, p. 102-103 missing in BHL copy ]

Van Duzee, E. P. 1914. A preliminary list of the Hemiptera of San Diego County, California. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 2: 1-57 [p. 38].

Van Duzee, E. P. 1916a. Check list of Hemiptera (excepting the Aphididae, Aleurodidae and Coccidae) of America North of Mexico. New York Entomological Society, New York. 111 pp. [see p. 78 onward]

Van Duzee, E. P. 1917b. Catalogue of the Hemiptera of America North of Mexico (excepting the Aphididae, Coccidae and Aleurodidae). University of California Publications, Technical Bulletins, vol. 2. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. i-xiv, 1-902. [from Google books] [see p. 716 onward]

Webb, D. W. 1980. Primary insect types in the Illinois Natural History Survey collection, exclusive of the Collembola and Thysanoptera. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 32: 55-191.[Microledrida flava listed]]

Wilson, S. W., C. Mitter, R. F. Denno and 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.