[Back to North American Flatidae]

Family Flatidae Spinola, 1839

Subfamily Flatinae Spinola, 1839

Tribe Selizini Melichar, 1923: 86

Genus Mistharnophantia Kirkaldy, 1907: 65.

Type species (in original combination):  Mistharnophantia sonorana Kirkaldy, 1907: 66.

Synonyms:

Rhynchopteryx Van Duzee, 1914: 43 (type species Rhynchopteryx caudata Van Duzee, 1914); syn by. Doering & Shepard 1947: 111.

Distribution:

Southwestern US and (northern) Mexico.

Recognized species

There are 7 species currently assigned to this genus [see Metcalf 1957: 415]:

Mistharnophantia acuta Doering & Shepard 1947: 114 – USA: NM, NV?, TX, UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sinaloa)
Mistharnophantia ajoensia Doering & Shepherd, 1947: 116 – USA: AZ
Mistharnophantia angusta Doering & Shepherd, 1947: 117 – USA: NM, TX
Mistharnophantia curta Doering & Shepard 1947: 119 – Mexico (Sonora – Kino Bay)
Mistharnophantia extensa Doering & Shepherd, 1947: 112 – USA: AZ, NM, TX; Mexico (Sonora, as Kino Bay)
Mistharnophantia sima Doering & Shepherd, 1947: 122 USA: AZ, CA, TX, UT; Mexico (Nuevo León)
Mistharnophantia sonorana Kirkaldy, 1907: 66 – USA: AZ, CA, FL, NM, TX; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Ángel de la Guarda Island, Cerralvo [Jacques Costeau] Island, San Jose Island, San Francisco Island, San Esteban Island, Monserrate Island, Carmen Island, San Marcos Island, Tiburón Island)
= Rhynchopteryx caudata Van Duzee, 1914); syn by. Doering & Shepard 1947: 111

List compiled primarily from FLOW, also Metcalf (1957) and an unpublished list by Lois O’Brien. See also Bartlett et al. (2014).

Economic Importance:

Probably limited.

Plant associations:

Mistharnophantia sonorana (as M. caudata) – Helianthus L. (Sunflower, Asteraceae)

Mistharnophantia sp. – Prosopis L. (mesquite, Fabaceae)

Evidently Woods (1992) reports Mistharnophantia from Parkinsonia aculeata L. (Jerusalem thorn, Fabaceae), but I do not have the reference at present.

Hosts from Wilson et al. (1994); plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos. See also FLOW (does not report any as of 29 Sept. 2018).

Parasites/Predators

Hesperodryinus arizonicus Perkins (Dryinidae) on Mistharnophantia sonorana (See Krombein 1979: 1243).

Apterodryinus torvus Perkins (Dryinidae) on Mistharnophantia sonorana (See Krombein 1979: 1246).

Recognition:

Easily recognized among North American by its distinctive shape.  Wings abruptly narrowed distally into acuminate ‘tail’.

Metcalf (1938: 400) has a key to American Selizini.

Moderately common in the southwest.

Key to species in Doering & Shepherd (1947).  I have had difficulties determining species, but this may be inexperience.

Mistharnophantia sp. (Salvador Vitanza, Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas, July 16, 2016, Size: 4 mm, sweeping vegetation)

Online resources: 

FLOW.
Discover Life
Encyclopedia of Life here. 
Bugguide.  (I will not vouch for species identifications).

Collecting

Mistharnophantia, like many flatids can be taken by inspection, sweeping/beating.

Molecular resources: 

Mistharnophantia sp. is on Barcode of Life  and on GenBank.

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.

Bourgoin, T. 2018 (and updates). FLOW (Fulgoromorpha Lists on The Web): a world knowledge base dedicated to Fulgoromorpha.  Version 8, updated 29 Sept 2018. https://www.hemiptera-databases.org/flow/?page=explorer&db=flow&lang=en&card=taxon&rank=genus&id=11741

Doering, K. C. and C. J. Shepherd. 1946. Some new species of the genus Mistharnophantia (Subfamily Flatinae, Family Fulgoridae, Homoptera). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 19: 111-127.

Fowler, W. W. 1900. Order Rhynchota. Suborder Hemiptera-Homoptera. (Continued). In: Biologia Centrali-Americana. Porter, London. 1: 44-76.

Kirkaldy, G. W. 1907b. Notes on Central American hemipterous fauna. Canadian Entomologist 39: 248-250.

Kirkaldy, G. W. 1907i. Leafhoppers. Hemiptera Homoptera. Report of work of the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association. Division of Entomology bulletin 4: 60-66.

Krombein, K. V. 1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America north of Mexico, vol. 2. Apocrita (Aculeata). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC. Pp. i-xvi + 1199-2209.

Melichar, L. 1923a. Homoptera, fam. Acanaloniidae, Flatidae et Ricaniidae. Genera Insectorum. Bruxelles 182: 1-185.

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. [see p. 400, key to genus]

Metcalf, Z. P. 1957. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV, Fulgoroidea, Part 13, Flatidae and Hypochthonellidae. North Carolina State College, Raleigh, North Carolina. Pp. 1-565. (see p. 415)

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.

Van Duzee, E. P. 1914a. A preliminary list of the Hemiptera of San Diego Country, California. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 2:1-57.

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. (p. 82).

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. (see p. 755)

Walker, F. 1858a. Homoptera. Insecta Saundersiana: or characters of undescribed insects in the collection of William Wilson Saunders, Esq. British Museum, London. Pp. 1-117.

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.

Woods, W. 1992. Phytophagous insects collected from Parkinsonia aculeata [Leguminosae: Caesalpiniaceae] in the Sonoran desert region of the southwestern United States and Mexico. BioControl 37(3): 465-474.