Genus Kormus Fieber, 1866

[Back to Higher classification of Delphacidae]

Family Delphacidae Leach, 1815

Subfamily Delphacinae Leach, 1815

Tribe Delphacini Leach, 1815

Genus Kormus Fieber, 1866: 520 (key), 523.

Type species: Kormus artemisiae Fieber, 1866

Distribution

Russia, Guatemala, USA: California (see below).

Recognized species

Only three species are in this genus, as follows: [Metcalf 1943: 293]

Kormus apicimaculus (Fowler, 1905: 136) – Guatemala.
= Liburnia apicimacula Fowler, 1905: 136; PI. 13, Figs. 16, 16a. [n. sp., illustrated.] –
= Megamelus apicimaculatus [sic] (Fowler, 1905); comb. by Crawford, 1914: 606 (key), 630. Equals Liburnia apicimaculata [sic] Fowl. :606.
= Kormus apicumaculus (Fowler, 1905); comb. by Muir and Giffard, 1924: 8.
Kormus artemisiae Fieber, 1866: 523 – Russia, Caucasus, Kazakhstan.
Kormus californicus Crawford, 1914: 586 – USA: California.
= Kormus californica Crawford, 1914; missp. in Johnson & Ledig 1918: 8.

Note: There apparently is a marine plant genus called Kormus, but was unable to confirm this.

Plant associations

Kormus artemisiae is reported from Limonium gmelini (Willd.) Kuntze ([also] a Sea Lavender; Plumbaginaceae, leadwort family)

Host data from Wilson et al. 2004; plant name from Tropicos.

Economic Importance

Limited. The New World Kormus species are known only from the type material.

Recognition

Until a male is found of Kormus californicus, we will remain unsure of the proper placement of this species. I have not seen the type specimen of Kormus apicimaculus (the only known specimen of that species).  Kormus artemisiae has limited similarities to Kormus californicus and it is quite unlikely that they are correctly placed in the same genus.

Kormus artemisiae  – male (thanks to Alexandr Emeljanov for the photographed specimens; photographs by Kimberly Shropshire, Dept. Entomology & Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware).

Kormus artemisiae – female

Kormus californicus (holotype) – This is the only known specimen of this species (a female).  Thanks to Norm Penny, California Academy of Sciences Natural History Museum for the photos.

Online resources

Kormus on…
EOL
FLOW
Discover Life
GBIF
Fauna Europaea
Bugguide (this genus not on Bugguide)
3I Interactive Keys and Taxonomic Databases (Dmitry Dmitriev)

Molecular resources

none.

Select references

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.

Ferrari, P. M. 1882a. Cicadaria Agri Ligustici. Annali del Museo Civico di storia naturale di Genova 18: 75-165. (noted p. 87, 15 in seperate)

Fieber, F. X. 1866b. Grundzüge zur generischen Theilung der Delphacini. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologish-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 16: 517-534.

Fieber, F. X. 1875a. Les Cicadines d’Europe : d’après les originaux et les plus récentes. Première partie: Comprenant les familles des Membracida, Cicadaea, Fulgorida, Cercopida, Ulopida, Paropida, Scarida, disposées selon la méthode analytiqu …par Ferd. Reiber. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie pure et appliquée. (3) 3:288-416; separate paged 1-129. (see p. 87)

Fieber, F. X. 1878a. Les Cicadines d’Europe d’après les originaux et les publications les plus récentes. Trosième partie: Description des espèces. Traduit de l’allemand par Ferd. Reiber. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie pure et appliquée. (3) 6:270-308; separate paged 1-39. (see p 32)

Fowler, W. E. 1905. Order Rhynchota. Suborder Hemiptera-Homoptera (Continued). Biologia Centrali-Americana; or contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America 1: 125-139.

Johnson, C. and R. Ledig. 1918a. Tentative list of Hemiptera from the Claremeont-Laguna region. Journal of Economic Entomology 10: 3-8.

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

Logvinenko, V. N. 1975. Fulgoroidny cicadovy Fulgoroidea in Fauna Ukrainy 20 (2): 1-287 [in Ukrainian].

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

Muir, F.A.G. 1926b. Contributions to our knowledge of South American Fulgoroidea (Homoptera). Part I. The Family Delphacidae. Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, Entomological Series, Bulletin 18:1-51, plates 1-5.

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

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

Oshanin, V. T. 1907a. Verzeichnis der palaearktischen hemipteren, mit besonderer berücksichtigung ihrer verteilung im Russischen reiche. II. Band. Homoptera. I. Lieferung. Annuaire du Musée Zoologique de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Pétersbourg. Buchdr. der K. Akademie der wissenschaften. St. Petersburg. (1908) 12: 193-384. (see p. 309).

Puton, A. 1899a. Homoptera. Am. Serv. (Gulaerostria Zett. Fieb.) Sect. I. Auchenorrhyncha Dumér. (Cicadina Burm.). In Catalogue des Hémiptères (Hétéroptères, Cicadines et Psyllides) de la faune Paléarctique. 4e Ed. Bureau de la Société Française d’Entomologie . Caen.  Pp.: 3-121. [Lists genera and species with synonyms; see pp. 84-109.]  (see p. 107)

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] (see p. 84)

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] (see p. 770)

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 [host references in appendix].