Genus Achorotile Fieber, 1866

[back to Higher Classification of Delphacidae]
[back to A checklist of New World delphacid species]

Family Delphacidae Leach, 1815

Subfamily Delphacinae Leach, 1815

Tribe Delphacini Leach, 1815

Genus Achorotile Fieber, 1866: 521

Genus synonyms

= Achrotile misspelling by Scudder (1963: 167) corrected by Wilson (1992: 82)
= Achorotele misspelling by Ashmead, 1889: 27.
= Achortile misspelling by Muir, 1915: 297.

Type species (in original combination):  Delphax albosignata Dahlbom, 1850: 199.

Subgenera

Laccoscyta Anufriev and Emeljanov, 1981 (type species in original combination Ditropis longicornis Sahlberg, 1871) includes Achorotile transbaicalica in addition to the type species.

Criochora Anufriev and Emeljanov, 1981 (type species Achorotile caecianta) includes 8 species.

Achorotile Fieber includes all species in the genus not explicitly placed in the other two subgenera.

For key to subgenera, see Anufriev and Emeljanov (1980).

Subgeneric assignment (below) following FLOW.

Distribution

Mostly northern Holarctic (some species circumboreal), most New World species in western North American.

Recognized species

There are 14 recognized species in the genus (the subgeneric assignment of A. acuta & A. coloradensis are not clear to me).

Achorotile acuta Scudder, 1963 – Canada: Alberta, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon
Achorotile (Achorotile) albosignata (Dahlbom, 1850: 199) – Andorra, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Russia (Altay, Central European Russia [Ryazan]; North European Russia [Murmansk]), Spain, Sweden, Yugoslavia [Reported from USA and Canada in error]
= Delphax albosignata Dahlbom, 1850 (original combination)
= Delphax fuscinervis Boheman, 1852; syn. apparently by Stal, 1854)
Achorotile (Criochora) angulata Beamer, 1954 – USA: Colorado
Achorotile (Criochora) apicata Hamilton 2002: 16 – USA: Utah
Achorotile (Criochora) caecianta Emeljanov, 1976: 360 – Russia (Magadan), Mongolia
Achorotile coloradensis Beamer, 1954 – USA: Colorado
Achorotile (Criochora) curvata Beamer, 1954 – USA: Arizona
Achorotile (Criochora) distincta Scudder, 1963 – Canada: Alberta, British Columbia. Yukon
Achorotile (Criochora) foeveata Spooner, 1912: 241– USA: California, ?Wyoming
Achorotile (Laccoscyta) longicornis (Sahlberg, 1871: 474) – Finland, Poland, Russia (Central European Russia [Chuvashiya, Nizhny Novgorod]), Sweden
Achorotile (Achorotile) nobilis Dlabola, 1961: 316 – Romania
Achorotile (Criochora) pediforma Beamer, 1954 – USA: Washington
Achorotile (Criochora) stylata Beamer, 1954 – USA: Wyoming; Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon
Achorotile (Criochora) subarctica Scudder, 1963 – USA: Alaska; Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories; Mongolia, Russia
Achorotile (Laccoscyta) transbaicalica Kusnezov, 1929: 169 – ?Canada: NW Territories; Russia, Turkestan, Mongolia

(I have found a comment that A. curvata may be the same as A. distincta, but I can not verify that this synonymy has been published at this time).

Plant Associations

Presumably grass feeders. 

Achorotile albosignata is possibly on Festuca (Fescue) or Agrostis (bentgrass). (e.g., Gebicki et al. 2013)
Achorotile distincta is reported from Calamagrostis rubescens Buckley (pinegrass) and Carex sp. (sedge);
Achorotile stylata is reported from Poa pratensis L. (Kentucky bluegrass )

Host information from Wilson et al. 1994 (et. cit., viz. Scudder 1963), Nickel, 2003; plant names from USDA PLANTS.  See also hosts listed in FLOW.

Economic Importance

Limited. Not reported as pests.

Recognition

The genus is easily recognized by sensory pits on the face and body and paired carinae of the face.  Males and females can be dissimilar in color pattern.  Diagnosis of species is sometimes difficult.

Description of genus from Anufriev and Emeljanov 1988: 294-395:

Metope [~frons] and tergal parts of thorax and abdomen bearing sensory pits in imagines, which are usually developed only in larvae of most Fulgoroidea. Macrocoryphe about square, from slightly longitudinal to slightly transverse. Eumetope about twice as long as wide, with 2 not connecting carinae and moderately convex lateral margins. Lateral areas of metope bearing sensory pits (trichobothria) in 2 rows; if pits are present in inner row, the pits in outer row opposite them are absent and vice versa; eumetope with 2 inner pits below, 2 outer pits above them (in middle part), then again 2 inner pits, outer pits on the turn of eumetope into acrometope, and 2 inner pits on acrometope. Disc of pronotum wide, with oblique, diverging backwards and slanting transversely lateral carinae; these carinae are replaced by row of pits running along posterior margin of pronotum up to the very bottom of paranotal lobes (sides of pronotum). On scutellum, pits are situated lateral to posterior ends of lateral carinae of disc, 2 pits near each carina. In brachypters, fore wings usually strongly shortened and straightly truncate posteriorly at level of abdominal tergite III. Abdominal tergites IV-IX also with sensory pits laterally. Posttibial spur with reduced lateral denticles and without apical denticle. Male. Pygofer with shallow, wide, dorsal excision and lateral edging without cuts; edging may be smoothed in lower half of pygofer sides. Sides of pygofer with sensory pits dorsally; bridge of pygofer mostly with vertical carina, which is projecting in the shape of a knob. Anal tube with a pair of large teeth; crosspiece between bases of teeth sclerotized or not sclerotized. Styli becoming more or less thinner to apex, diverging upwards, short or long. Aedeagus weakly asymmetrical, straight or arcuate, bent ventrad, widened at base and even projecting in the shape of a knob on ventral side. Gonopore apical or ventral, subapical.

Keys to species given in Scudder (1963) for Canadian species and Beamer (1954)

The key in Beamer does not include 3 species described by Scudder (Scudder only keys Canadian species), but here is Beamer’s key.

See also images of Achorotile  at Spencer Entomological Collection, Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Subgenus Laccoscyta (from Anufriev and Emeljanov 1980, edited for clarity)

Length of vertex approximately 1.5 times its width (Anufriev & Emeljanov 1988) (Fig. 18 [below]). Inferior margin of pygofer Lacking processes. Phallus clearly asymmetric, with weakly broadened base and distinctly subapical lateral gonopore. Coloration dark, chestnut-cinnamomeous or practically black; vertex, pronotum, and scutellum not lightened. (Laccoscyta subgenus, type species Achorotile longicornis).

Subgenus Criochora 

Length of vertex approximately equal to its width.  Anal tube lacking sclerotized bridge below, between bases of processes. Phragma of pygofer [armature of diaphragm] lacking vertical keel. Inferior margin of pygofer with columnar process, apically bidentate. Styles comparatively long. (Criochora subgenus, type species Achorotile caecianta) (Figs. 34-41).

Subgenus Achorotile (everything not explicitly placed in above subgenera Laccoscyta & Criochora; type species Achorotile albosignata)

Length of vertex approximately equal to its width. Anal tube with sclerotized bridge below, between bases of processes. Phragma of pygofer [armature of diaphragm]  with vertical keel, appearing forked from above. Inferior margin of pygofer with broad, straight, truncated or tridentate dorsoventrally flattened process. Styles [gonostyli] very long. Phallus with strongly angular broadened base and apical gonopore slightly displaced to side.

Key to species of Achorotile of North America modified from Beamer 1954

1. Aedeagus sickle-shaped … 2
1′. Aedeagus not sickle-shaped … 3

2. Anal processes [on abdominal segment 10] very broad, almost straight … Achorotile albosignata Dahlbom (not in North America)
2′. Anal processes much narrower, distinctly curved … Achorotile coloradensis Beamer

3. Anal processes tapered to apices, almost straight … 4
3′. Anal processes more or less avicephaliform at apices ….6

4. Styles [parameres] in ventrocaudal view pediform at apices … 5
4′. Styles in ventrocaudal view not pediform … Achorotile stylata Beamer

5. Processes on caudoventral margin of pygofer curved caudally at tip … Achorotile pediforma Beamer
5′. Processes on caudoventral margin of pygofer nearly straight … Achorotile foveata Spooner

6. Both margins of anal processes more or less sharp … Achorotile angulata Beamer
6′. One margin of anal processes rounded … Achorotile curvata Beamer

(All photos by Kimberley Shropshire, Department of Entomology ,University of Delaware), except as indicated.

Achorotile coloradensis

Achorotile curvata

Achorotile distincta

Male

Female

Achorotile pediforma

Achorotile acuta  from the Spencer Entomological Collection, Beaty Biodiversity

 

Online resources

Achorotile on…

Spencer Entomological Collection , Beaty Biodiversity Museum
Discover Life.
Fauna Europaea.
EOL
FLOW
Oddly, this genus is not present on Bugguide (link to Delphacini genus list).
Gernot Kunz Kunzweb Gallery Europe (genus not present)
Leafhopper, Planthopper & Psyllid Vectors of Plant Disease (genus not present)
3I Interactive Keys and Taxonomic Databases (Dmitry Dmitriev)
Les Hemipteres du Quebec (A. acuta listed)
Hemipterans of North Carolina (not in North Carolina)
DEpository (Metazoa of Germany) – Achorotile albosignata listed
Link to Achorotile in Denmark’s Fauna viz.p. 65 of

Molecular resources

Achorotile is here on Genbank with data for 3 species at this time (A. distincta, A. stylata, and A. subartica). On Barcode of Life (BOLD) there are now data for 8 identified taxa (although the genus is misspelled as “Achrotile“, eventually they will fix it and the link will stop working).

Selected references

(maybe some more to add)

Anufriev, G. A. and A. F. Emelyanov. 1981. The genus Achorotile Fieb. (Homoptera: Delphacidae) and its systematics in the Palearctic Region. Entomological Review 60: 87-97. (Translation of Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie (1980) 59(1): 118-127).

Anufriev, G. A. and A. F. Emeljanov. 1988. Volume II: Homoptera and Heteroptera. In: P. A. Lehr (ed.). Keys to the Insects of the Far East of the USSR in Six Volumes, Transliteration of the Russian title: Opredelitel’ nasekomykh Dal’nego Vostoka SSSR v shesti tomakh. Vol. 2. Ravnokrylye i poluzhestkokrylye. Nauka, Leningrad. 496 pp [index paginated separately, 10 pp].

Ashmead, W. H. 1889b. A generic synopsis of the Fulgoridae. (Concluded.). Entomologica Americana 5: 21-28.

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.

Beamer, R. H. 1954. A revision of the genus Achorotile in America North of Mexico. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 27(4): 143-147. (on JSTOR)

Boheman, C. H. 1847. Nya Svenska Homoptera. Ofversigt af Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forhandlingar 1847: 263-266

D’Urso, V. 1995. Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha. In: Checklist delle specie della Fauna Italiana 42: 1-35.

Dahlbom, A. G. 1850a. Anteckningar öfver Insekter, som blifvit observerade på Gottland och i en del af Calmare Län, under sommaren 1850. Svenska vetenskaps-akademiens handlingar 1850: 155-229. [p. 199, description of Delphax albosignata]

Dlabola, J. 1961. Die Zikaden von Zentralasien, Dagestam und Trankav Kasien (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 34: 241-358.

Emeljanov, A. F. 1976. New genera and species of leafhoppers (Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha) from the Northeast of the USSR. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 55(2): 357-363. [in Russian]

Fieber, F. X. 1866b. Grundzüge zur generischen Theilung der Delphacini. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologish-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 16: 517-534. [p. 521 original description of Achorotile].

Gebicki, C., D. Swierczewski and J. Szwedo. 2013. Planthoppers and leafhoppers of Poland (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha et Cicadomorpha). Systematics. Check-list. Bionomy. The Monograph. Annals of the Upper Silesia Museum, Entomology 21-22: 5-259.

Hamilton, K.G.A. 2002a. Homoptera (Insecta) in Pacific Northwest grasslands. Part 1 – New and revised taxa of leafhoppers and planthoppers (Cicadellidae and Delphacidae). Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 99: 3-31. [p. 16, description of A. apicata]

Hamilton, K.G.A. 2002b. Homoptera (Insecta) in Pacific Northwest grasslands. Part 2 – Pleistocene refugia and postglacial dispersal of Cicadellidae, Delphacidae and Caliscelidae. Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia. 99: 33-80.

Holzinger, W. E., I. Kammerlander and H. Nickel. 2003. Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha excluding Cicadellidae. Volume 1. The Auchenorrhyncha of Central Europe. Brill Academic Publishing, Leiden, Netherlands.

Jensen-Haarup, A. C. 1920a. Cikader. In: Danmarks Fauna Illustrerede Haandbøger over den Danske dyreverden med Statsunderstøttelse udgivne af Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening. G. E. C. Gads. København. 1920:1-189.(Link to Achorotile)

Kirkaldy, G. W. 1901b. Some systematic work published during the last five years upon North American Auchenorrhynchous Homoptera (Rhynchota). Entomologist 34: 336-340.

Kusnezov, V. 1929. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der transbaikalischen Homopteren fauna. Wiener Entomologische Zeitung 46: 157-185.

Lauterer, P. 1983.  Fagocyba cerricola sp. n. and new and interesting records of leafhoppers from Czechoslovakia (Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha). Acta Musei Moraviae 68: 139-152.

Leach, W. E. 1815a. Entomology. The Edinburg encyclopedia; conducted by David Brewster 9: 57-172. (family Delphacidae here).

Maw, H.E.L., R. G. Foottit and K.G.A. Hamilton. 2000. Checklist of the Hemiptera of Canada and Alaska, NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Canada.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1943. General Catalogue of the Hemiptera. Fascicle IV, Fulgoroidea, Part 3, Araeopidae (Delphacidae). Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts. 552 pp.

Muir, F.A.G. 1915d. A contribution towards the taxonomy of the Delphacidae. Canadian Entomologist 47: 296-302.

Nast, J. 1972. Palaearctic Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera). An annotated check list. Polish Scientific Publishers, Warszawa, 550 pp.

Nast, J. 1987. The Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera) of Europe. Annales Zoologici Warszawa 40: 535-661.

Nickel, H. 2003. The Leafhoppers and Planthoppers of Germany (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha): patterns and strategies in a highly diverse group of phytophagous insects. Pensoft Series Faunistica No. 28, Sofia-Moscow, Keltern, 1-460.

Ossiannilsson, F. 1978. The Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Part 1: Introduction, infraorder Fulgoromorpha. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 7 (1): 1-222.

Remane, R. and W. Frohlich. 1994. Beitrage zur Chorologie einiger Zikaden-Arten (Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha) in der Westpalaarktis. Marburger Entomologische Publikationen 2(8): 131-188.

Remane, R. and W. Frohlich. 1994. Vorlaufige, kritische Artenliste der im Gebiet der Bundesrepublik Deutschland nachgewiesenen Taxa der Insekten-Gruppe der Zikaden (Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha). Marburger Entomologische Publikationen 2(8): 189-232.

Ribaut, H. 1959. Homopteres nouveaux pour la France. Bulletin de la Societe d`Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse 94: 393-399. 1959

Scudder, G.G.E. 1963. Studies on the Canadian and Alaskan Fulgoromorpha (Hemiptera).I. The genera Achrotile [sic] Fieber and Laccocera Van Duzee (Delphacidae). Canadian Entomologist 95: 167-177. [Not a good PDF]

Spooner, C. S. 1912. Some new species of Delphacidae. Canadian Entomologist 44: 233-242.

Sahlberg, J. R. 1871. Ofversigt af Finlands och den Skandinaviska hälfons Cicadariae. I. Notiser ur Sällskapets pro Fauna et Flora Fennica Förhandlingar 9(12): 1-506.

Stal, C. 1854.  Kort ofversigt af Sveriges Delphax-arter. Ofversigt af Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forhandlingar 11: 189-197.  [Delphax fuscinervis Boheman, 1852]

Strickland, E. H. 1940. Additional Fulgoridae taken in Alberta. Canadian Entomologist 72(4): 87-88.

Strickland, E. H. 1953. An annotated list of the Hemiptera (s.l.) of Alberta. Canadian Entomologist 85: 193-214.

Vilbaste, J. 1971. Eesti Tirdid. Homoptera-Cicadinea I. (Tettigometridae, Cixiidae, Delphacidae, Achilidae, Issidae, Cicadidae, Aphrophoridae, Membracidae). Kirjastus “Valgus”, Tallinn, 1-284.

Wilson, S. W. 1988. Delphacidae of Alaska (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs 12: 335‑343.

Wilson, S. W. 1992. The Delphacidae of Yukon Territory, Canada (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Insecta Mundi 6(2): 79-100.

Wilson, S. W. 1997. Delphacid planthoppers (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Delphacidae) of the Yukon. In: H. V. Danks and J. A. Downes (eds.). Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 377-385.

Wilson, S. W. and J. E. McPherson. 1980b. The distribution of the Fulgoroidea of the eastern United States (Homoptera). Transactions of the Illinois Academy of Science 73(4): 7‑20.

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. Pp. 7-45 & Appendix.  In: R. F. Denno and T. J. Perfect (eds.). Planthoppers: Their Ecology and Management. Chapman and Hall, New York. [host information in the appendix].