[Back to North American Fulgoridae]

Family Fulgoridae Latreille, 1807

Subfamily Poiocerinae Haupt, 1929

Tribe Poiocerini Haupt, 1929

Subtribe Poiocerina Haupt, 1929

Genus Itzalana Distant, 1905

Type species (in original combination): Itzalana formosa Distant, 1905.

Synonyms

None.

Distribution

Mostly Central America (but reaches Texas).

Recognized species

This genus has 3 species, 1 of which gets into extreme southern U.S. [see Metcalf 1941, 51]

Itzalana formosa Distant, 1905: 146 – Mexico (Yucatan)
Itzalana rubescens Lallemand, 1956: 2 – Mexico (Oaxaca as Salina Cruz)
Itzalana submaculata Schmidt, 1905: 377 – USA: TX; Mexico (Chiapas, Morelos, San Luis Potosí); Honduras, Nicaragua, Surinam

Economic Importance

Limited.

Plant associations

• Itzalana submaculata – Baccharis (Asteraceae) (most collections either Sept.-Oct or late May).

Host from Wilson & O’Brien (1986) and Wilson et al. (1994); plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos.

Recognition

Body distinctly short and broad; head not strongly produced, with eyes wider than pronotum; frons shorter than the length of the frontoclypeal suture, dorsal margin at least 2x length of the frontoclypeal suture.

 

Description of the genus Itzalana from Distant 1905: 146.

Head very broad, narrow, the front truncately deflected and profoundly transversely sulcate, not visible from above; vertex with two transverse ridges, between which the surface is moderately sulcate, its anterior margin convex, posterior margin concave; eyes projecting a little beyond the anterior angles of the pronotum; face broad and somewhat short, the lateral and posterior margins concavely sinuate, the lateral margins laminately raised and reflected; clypeus with a central carination ; second joint of antennae subglobose; pronotum transverse, wider than vertex of head, anterior margin convex, base truncate, lateral margins oblique; mesonotum subtriangular; tegmina short, very little longer than the body, anteriorly centrally, moderately, convexly arched, apex obtusely acute, the venation totally reticulate; wings broad at base, apically obtusely acute; legs of moderate length, femora a little thickened and sulcate beneath, posterior tibiae with four spines; rostrum reaching posterior coxae.

 

Itzalana formosa from Distant 1905

Online resources

BugGuide.
iNaturalist.
FLOW.
EOL.
GBIF.
BOLD. (link to Poiocerinae, genus not present)
GenBank. (no data)
3i.
Discover Life.
Naturalista.
Texas Planthoppers.

Collecting

Inspection of Baccharis in May or Oct-Sept. in Texas or south.

Molecular resources

As of this writing, there is 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.

Distant W. L. 1905. Cicadidae and Fulgoridae. Biologia Centrali-Americana 1: 140-146.

Haupt, H. 1929b. Neueinteilung der Homoptera-Cicadina nach phylogenetisch zu wertenden Merkmalen. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Systemetik, Okologie und Geographie der Tiere. Jena 58: 173-286.

Lallemand, V. 1956. Contribution à l’étude des Fulgoridae (Hemiptera) (1re note). Bulletin de l’Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique XXXII(39): 1-7.

Latreille, P. A. 1807. Sectio secunda. Familia quarta. Cicadariae. Cicadaires. Genera Crustaceorum et Insectorum secundum ordinem naturalem in familias disposita, iconibus exemplisque plurimis explicata 3: 1-258.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1947. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV Fulgoroidea. Part 9 Fulgoridae. Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts. (p. 51)

O’Brien, L. B. 1985. New synonymies and combinations in New World Fulgoroidea (Achilidae, Delphacidae, Flatidae, Fulgoridae: Homoptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 78(5): 657-662.

Porion, T. 1994. Fulgoridae I: catalogue illustre de la faune americaine. Sciences Nat, Venette.

Urban J. M. and J. R. Cryan. 2009. Entomologically famous, evolutionarily unexplored: The first phylogeny of the lanternfly family Fulgoridae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 50: 471-484.

Wilson, S. W. and L. B. O’Brien. 1986. Descriptions of nymphs of Itzalana submaculata Schmidt (Homoptera: Fulgoridae), a species new to the United States. Great Lakes Entomologist 19(2): 101 105. (here?)

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.