Genus Sikaiana Distant, 1907

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Family Derbidae Spinola, 1839

Subfamily Otiocerinae Muir, 1917

Tribe Sikaianini Muir, 1913

Genus Sikaiana Distant, 1907b: 398.

[Not the island (Stewart Island)]

Type species (in original combination): Sikaiana hyalinata Distant, 1907b.

Synonyms

Iguvium Distant, 1917 (Type species Iguvium albomaculatum Distant 1917); syn. by Muir 1918b: 174, 176.

Euklastus Metcalf, 1923 (Type species Euklastus harti Metcalf 1923); syn. by Fennah 1952: 118.

Distribution

Southwest USA, western Africa, Indomalayan region and eastern Australia.

Recognized species

In the New World, Sikaiana includes only a single species, but there are at least 16 Old World species; this genus is under revision.  Euklastus is sometimes treated as a valid genus.

New World Sikaiana:

Sikaiana harti (Metcalf, 1923) [Metcalf 1945: 60] – USA: DE, IL, GA, MD, MS, NC, OK, TN, TX, WI (Bugguide adds AL,  IN, IO, KS, MA, MI, NH, NJ , NY, PA,  SC)
= Euklastus harti Metcalf 1923: 195.
= Sikaiana harti (Metcalf 1923); comb. by Fennah 1952: 118.

Old World Sikaiana: (from FLOW; Distribution to be added later; genus in Metcalf 1945: 58)

1. Sikaiana africana Muir, 1926 – Ghana, Sierra Leone
2. Sikaiana albomaculata (Distant, 1917) – Seychelles
3. Sikaiana caenosa Muir, 1913: 64 – Indonesia (Tanimbar)
4. Sikaiana clymene Muir, 1913: 65 – Indonesia (Tanimbar)
5. Sikaiana flammeivittata Fennah, 1950 – Fiji
6. Sikaiana fulva Muir, 1913: 63 – Indonesia (Tanimbar)
7. Sikaiana hyalinata Distant, 1907: 399 – Australia (Queensland)
8. Sikaiana laelaps Fennah, 1970 – Solomon Islands (South Solomons)
9. Sikaiana lycotas Fennah, 1969 – New Caledonia
10. Sikaiana maculosa Distant, 1907: 399 – Australia (Queensland)
11. Sikaiana makii Muir, 1915: 127 – Philippines (Luzon), Taiwan
12. Sikaiana nesiope Kirkaldy, 1907: 178 – Indonesia (Jawa), Fiji
13. Sikaiana nigrimaculata Muir, 1913: 64 – Indonesia (Tanimbar)
14. Sikaiana palaui Fennah, 1956 – Palau (Western Caroline Islands)
15. Sikaiana straminea Muir, 1913: 64 – Indonesia (Tanimbar)
16. Sikaiana vitriceps Muir, 1917: 99 – Philippines (Luzon)

Economic Importance

Limited – New World species are infrequently encountered.

Known host plants

Derbidae are known or assumed to feed on fungal hyphae as immatures.  The significance of adult host associations are unclear. Hosts from Wilson et al. 1994 and Löcker et al. (2009) (see also genus home page on FLOW; plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos.

• Sikaiana makii – Palms (Arecaceae)
• Sikaiana vitriceps – Palms (Arecaceae)
• Sikaiana albomaculata – Phoenicophorium borsigianum (K. Koch.) (Arecales, Arecaceae; by Löcker et al. (2009)

Recognition

Small, very fragile forms; wings greatly exceeding abdomen, frons extremely compressed, antennae lacking appendages, head only slightly projecting in front of eyes (less than the diameter of the eye), clavus open, the first cell of forewing distinctly elongate (vs. Mula), widest near apex; dark markings on the wing in cells and along veins; hindwings wider than Mula.

The genus as currently comprised is almost certainly an amalgam of species; I am aware that the genus is receiving revisionary work.  The single North American species may not ultimately be retained in Sikaiana.

Description of Euklastus from Metcalf 1923: 194.

This genus may be recognized by the peculiar venation of the wings, by the narrow frons and elongate antenna.
Head narrow, the eyes large, vertex very small, deeply incised posteriorly; produced anteriorly and continued as the narrow rounded frons; frons very narrow produced; clypeus broader slightly inflated, antennae elongate, first joint very small, second joint flattened, elongate; pronotum short, deeply notched posteriorly, the anterior margin a little produced, median carina evident; mesonotum large, ecarinate; fore wings long, subcosta and radius united to near the apex of the wing; medius with four branches, clavus narrow, open, the common stem of claval veins extending to first cubitus, hind wings small, costal margin with an appendix, venation reduced; legs slender, hind tibiae without spines.

Sikaiana hyalinata Distant, 1907 (from Distant 1907: 399)

Online resources

As of this writing, this species is on Bugguide under Euklastus.

3i.
EOL.
Bugguide.
Discover Life.
FLOW.
Hoppers of North Carolina.
Kunzweb Gallery. (genus not present, link to family)
American Insects. (genus not present, link to family)
BOLD. (genus not present, link to Otiocerinae)

Collecting

Occasionally to lights or sweeping..

Molecular resources 

As of this writing (9 Oct. 2018), there are appears to be no molecular data for this genus on Genbank OR Barcode of Life.

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.

Broomfield, P. S. 1985. Taxonomy of Neotropical Derbidae in the new tribe Mysidiini (Homoptera). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 50(1): 1-152.[Genus noted and briefly discussed]

Distant, W. L. 1907. Rhynchotal notes. xlii. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. London. (Ser. 7) 19: 395-416.

Distant, W. L. 1917. Rhychota. Part ii: Suborder Homoptera. The Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Indian Ocean in 1905, under the leadership of Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner, M. A. The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Second series. Zoology 17: 273-322.

Emeljanov, A. F. 1996. On the system and phylogeny of the family Derbidae (Homoptera, Cicadina). Entomological Review 75: 70-100). (Translation of Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 1995, 73: 783-811, Russian summary 946-947).

Fennah, R. G. 1950. Fulgoroidea of Fiji. Bulletin Bernice P. Bishop Museum 202: 1-122. [pdf here]

Fennah, R. G. 1952. On the generic classification of Derbidae (Fulgoroidea), with descriptions of new Neotropical species. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 103(4): 109-170.

Fennah, R. G. 1956. Homoptera: Fulgoroidea. Insects Micronesia 6(3): 39-211 [132].

Fennah, R. G. 1969. Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. Pacific Insects Monography 21: 1-116.

Fennah, R. G. 1970. Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from Rennell and Bellona Islands. The Natural. History of Rennell Island, British Solomon Islands 6: 43-85.

Frison, T. H. 1927. A list of the insect types in the collections of the Illinois State Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois. Bulletin. Illinois Natural History Survey 16: 137-309. [p. 152, type of Euklastus harti]

Gonzon, A. T., C. R. Bartlett and J. L. Bowman. 2007 [dated 2006]. Planthopper (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) diversity in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 132(3/4): 243-260.

Holzinger, W. E., H. Löcker and B. Löcker. 2008. Fulgoromorpha of Seychelles: a preliminary checklist. Bulletin of Insectology 61(1): 121-122.

Kirkaldy, G. W. 1907. Leafhoppers supplement. (Hemiptera). Bulletin. Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association Experiment Station. Division of Entomology 3: 1-186.

Löcker H., B. Löcker and W. E. Holzinger. 2009.  Revision of the Derbidae of Seychelles Islands (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha). Zootaxa 2221: 1-26.

Melichar, L. 1914b. Homopteren von Java, gesammelt von Herrn. Edw. Jaconson. Notes from the Leyden Museum 36: 91-147. [Sikaiana nesiope noted p. 100]

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: 139-230., plus 32 plates.

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. 305]

Metcalf, Z. P. 1945. General Catalogue of the Hemiptera. Fascicle IV, Fulgoroidea. Part 4 Derbidae. Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts. Pp. 1-212. (p. 60 and p. 58)

Muir, F. A. G. 1913. On some new species of leafhoppers. Part II. Derbidae. Bulletin. Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association Experiment Station. Division of Entomology 12: 28-92.

Muir, F.A.G. 1915a. New and little known Derbidae. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 3: 116-136.

Muir, F.A.G. 1917a. The Derbidae of the Philippine Islands. Philippine Journal of Science 12(2): 49-104.

Muir, F. A. G. 1918b. Notes on the Derbidae in the British Museum collection.-I. Zoraidinae. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 54: 173-177.

Muir, F. A. G. 1926. Notes on some African Derbidae (Homoptera). Annals and Magazine of Natural History. London. (Ser. 9) 18: 227-240.

Spinola, M. 1839a. Essai sur les Fulgorelles, sous-tribu de la tribu des Cicadaires, ordre des Rhyngotes. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 8: 133-337.

Spinola, M. 1839b. Essai sur les Fulgorelles, sous-tribu de la tribu des Cicadaires, ordre des Rhyngotes. (Suite). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 8: 339-454.

Spooner, C. S. 1937. Derbid field days. Papers presented in the thirtieth annual meeting, Rockford, Illinois, May 7 and 8, 1937 (papers in Zoology). Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 30(2): 315-316. (Euklastus reported among other derbid species)

Synave, H. 1973. Monographie des Derbidae africains (Homoptera – Fulgoroidea). Etude du Continent Africain 2: 1-223.

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. (p. 76, Euklastus harti]

Willis, H. L. 1982. Collection of Euklastus harti in Wisconsin. Entomological News 93: 51‑53.

Wilson, M. R. 2009. Fiji Arthropods XII. A checklist of Fiji Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera). Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 102: 33-48. [PDF available here]

Wilson, S. W. and J. E. McPherson. 1980a. Keys to the planthoppers, or Fulgoroidea, of Illinois (Homoptera). Transactions of the Illinois Academy of Science 73(2): 1‑61.

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. and J. E. McPherson. 1980c. A list of the Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) of southern Illinois. Great Lakes Entomologist 13(1): 25-30.

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.

Yang, Chung-Tu and Rong-Hwa Wu. 1993. Derbidae of Taiwan (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea).  National Chung Hsing University, Department of Entomology, Taichung (Taiwan). 230 pp.