Genus Elachodelphax Vilbaste, 1965

[Back to Higher classification of Delphacidae]

Family Delphacidae Leach, 1815

Subfamily Delphacinae Leach, 1815

Tribe Delphacini Leach, 1815

Genus Elachodelphax Vilbaste, 1965: 14.

Type species (in original combination): Liburnia metcalfi Kuznezov, 1929.

Distribution

Holarctic, especially North

Recognized species

(distribution information may be incomplete, and I need to add syns. for Palearctic species)

Subgenera (not all species placed to subgenus, although it could be assumed that unplaced Old world taxa are Elachodelphax in the strict sense.

 Aschedelphax Wilson, 1992: 89 (sensu Hamilton 2002) (type species Aschedelphax hochae Wilson, 1992).

 Elachodelphax Vilbaste, 1965 new status (subgenus) by Hamilton 2002a: 17.

Subgenus Elachodelphax
Elachodelphax indistinctus (Crawford, 1914: 619) – Canada: Alberta, Saskatchewan; USA: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico
= Megamelus indistinctus Crawford, 1914: 619.
= Liburnia indistincta (Crawford, 1914); comb. by Van Duzee 1916a: 84.
= Delphacodes indistincta (Crawford, 1914); comb. by Muir & Giffard 1924: 26.
= D[elphacodes] indistinctus (Crawford, 1914); unjustified emendation by Hamilton 2002a: 3.
= Elachodelphax (Elachodelphax) indistinctus (Crawford, 1914); comb. by Hamilton 2002a: 17.
Elachodelphax metcalfi (Kusnezov, 1929) – Paleartic (Mongolia), Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu)
= Liburnia metcalfi Kusnezov, 1929
= Delphacodes metcalfi (Kusnezov, 1929), comb. by Metcalf, 1943: 469.
Elachodelphax squalida Emeljanov, 1982 – Mongolia

Subgenus Aschedelphax
Elachodelphax bifida (Beamer, 1948: 99) – USA: Arizona; (? Colorado, New Mexico, New York)
= Delphacodes bifida Beamer, 1948b: 99-100.
= D[elphacodes] bifidus Beamer 1948b; unjustified emendation by Hamilton 2002a: 3.
= Elachodelphax (Aschedelphax) bifida (Beamer, 1948b); comb. by Hamilton 2002a: 17.
Elachodelphax borealis Hamilton 2002 – Canada (Alberta, Labrador, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan); USA: New Hampshire, New York
Elachodelphax coloradensis (Beamer, 1952: 114) – USA: California, Colorado
= Delphacodes coloradensis Beamer, 1952a: 114.
= Aschedelphax coloradensis (Beamer, 1952a); comb. by Wilson 1992: 89-90.
= Elachodelphax (Aschedelphax) coloradensis (Beamer, 1952); comb. by Hamilton 2002a: 17.
Elachodelphax hochae (Wilson, 1992: 90) – Canada: (Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Yukon)
= Aschedelphax hochae Wilson, 1992: 89-90.
= Elachodelphax (Aschedelphax) hochae (Wilson, 1992); comb. by Hamilton 2002a: 17.
Elachodelphax mazama Hamilton 2002 – USA: Washington, New Mexico
Elachodelphax paransera (Beamer, 1948) – Canada: Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan; USA: New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin
= Delphacodes paransera Beamer, 1948b: 101-102.
= Calligypona paransera (Beamer, 1948b); comb. by Kontkanen 1958: 143.
= Elachodelphax (Aschedelphax) paransera (Beamer, 1948b); comb. by Hamilton & Kwon 2010: 421.
Elachodelphax pediforma (Beamer, 1947: 70) – Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon; USA: Idaho, Washington
= Delphacodes pediforma Beamer, 1947: 70.
= Yukonodelphax pediforma (Beamer, 1947); comb. by Wilson 1992: 92.
= D[elphacodes] pedaforma (Beamer, 1947); missp. by Maw et al. 2000: 84; also Hamilton 2002a: 3.
= Elachodelphax (Aschedelphax) pedaforma (Beamer, 1947); comb. and missp. by Hamilton 2002a: 17; also Hamilton & Kwon 2010: 17.
Elachodelphax peneparvula (Beamer, 1947) – USA: Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas
= Delphacodes peneparvula Beamer, 1947: 61-62.
= Elachodelphax peneparvula (Beamer, 1947); comb. by Bartlett et al. 2014: 116.
Elachodelphax unita Hamilton 2002 – USA: Utah

Not placed to subgenus?

Elachodelphax ionovi Anufriev, 2002 – Kyrgyzstan
Elachodelphax xinjiangensis Chen, 2002 – China: Xinjiang Uygur

Plant associations

None?

None listed in Wilson et al. (1994).  Have not checked all of the original descriptions, etc.

Economic Importance

Limited.

Recognition

Among the New World fauna, pale, relatively robust species; males often marked with brown on the lateral portions of the pro- and mesonota. Male genitalia with large carinate opening (diaphragm strong); dorsolateral portion enlarged and medially folded, usually into bilobed process (this feature probably Aschedelphax only).  Distribution of US species generally northern or in higher elevation.

Description of Aschedelphax from Wilson 1992 (misspellings are missed OCR errors)

Vertex slightly longer than wide, lateral margins almost parallel; lateral, median, and oblique carinae weak, with a concavity between each oblique carina and posterior margin. Frons with lateral margins carinate, almost straight and parallel, slightly convergent posteriorly; median carina distinct, almost obsolete at point of forking on juncture with vertex. Antennal scape length subequal to width at apex; pedicel ca. 2 X length of scape. Beak extending to mesotrochanters. Pronotal lateral carinae slightly posterolaterally curved, extending across 3/4 of pronotum before becoming obsolete. Mesonotal lateral carinae diverging and extending to posterior margin. Metatibia with apical transverse row of 5 teeth on plantar surface; spur foliaceous, with ca. 15 small marginal teeth, apical tooth very small. Metatarsomere 1 with apical transverse row of 7 teeth (5 + 2) on plantar surface.
Pygofer obliquely subcylindrical, posterodorsal area strongly produced on each side; postemdorsal area curved inwards, bilobed; ventrocaudal margin broadly concave. Diaphragm armature subtriangular in lateral view. Anal tube with pair of elongate, slender ventrocaudally-directed acute spines. Styles diverging. Aedeagus directed caudally, straight.

Elachodelphax bifida (Photos by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware)

Elachodelphax bifida

Elachodelphax coloradensis

Elachodelphax paransera

Online resources 

EOL
FLOW
Discover Life
Bugguide (not currently listed, link to taxon tree)
Gernot Kunz Kunzweb Gallery Europe (N/A, this genus not in central Europe, link provided anyway)
Leafhopper, Planthopper & Psyllid Vectors of Plant Disease (N/A)
3I Interactive Keys and Taxonomic Databases (Dmitry Dmitriev)
Les Hemipteres du Quebec (1 species listed)

Molecular resources

At this time, neither Genbank or Bold have any molecular resources for this genus.

Selected references

(references from synonymy lists still to add)

Anufriev, G. A. 2002. New and little known species of cicadoids of the family Delphacidae (Homoptera, Cicadinea) from north Kyrgyzstan. Entomologicheskie Issledovaniya v Kirgizii [Entomological Investigations in Kyrgyzstan] 22: 165-170. [Russian with English summary].

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. 1947. Some new species of Delphacodes (continued) with two old ones (Homoptera: Fulgoridae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 20(2): 58-71.

Beamer, R. H. 1948. Some new species of Delphacodes (Homoptera: Fulgoridae: Delphacinae), Part IV. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 21(3): 96-110.

Beamer, R. H. 1952. One old and five new species of delphacine fulgorids (Homoptera: Fulgoridae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 25(3): 111-115.

Chen, X. S. 2005. Description of a new species of the genus Elachodelphax from China (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 30(1): 34-36.

Crawford, D. L. 1914a. A contribution toward a monograph of the homopterous insects of the family Delphacidae of North and South America. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 46: 557-640, plus 6 plates.

Emeljanov, A. F. 1982. Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) collected in the Mongolian People’s Republic by the entomofaunistical group of the Soviet Mongolian complex biological expedition in 1970-1975. Nasekomye Mongolii [Insects of Mongolia] 8: 69-122. [In Russian]

Hamilton, K.G.A. 2002. 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.

Hamilton, K.G.A. 2002. 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.

Hamilton, K.G.A and Y. J. Kwon. 2010. Chapter 19. Taxonomic supplement to “short-horned” bugs (Homoptera) of the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone.  In: D. MacAlpine (Ed.), Assessment of Species Diversity in the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone. NRC Press Biodiversity Monograph Series. Pp. 421–431.

Hayashi M. and S. Fujinuma. 2016. Part Fulgoromorpha. In: Entomological Society of Japan 2016 – Catalogue of the insects of Japan. Volume 4 Paraneoptera (Psocodea, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera), 4. Editorial Committee of Catalogue of the Insects of Japan. p. 323-355.

Kusnezov, V. 1929. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der transbaikalischen Homopteren fauna. Wiener Entomologische Zeitung. Wien 46: 157-185 [163].

Leach, W. E. 1815. Entomology. The Edinburgh Encyclopedia 9: 57-172.

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

Vilbaste, J. 1965 [K faune tzikadovich Altaya] [On the Altaic Cicadine fauna (outer Mongolia).] Institute of Zoology and Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR, Tartu. [Russian with German summary]

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

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.