Genus Danepteryx Uhler, 1889

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Contents

1 Family Tropiduchidae Stål, 1866
- 1.1 Subfamily Elicinae Melichar, 1915
  - 1.1.1 Tribe Elicini Melichar, 1915

Family Tropiduchidae Stål, 1866

Subfamily Elicinae Melichar, 1915

Tribe Elicini Melichar, 1915

= Gaetuliini Fennah, 1978 (sensu Gnezdilov 2007)

(Note: Historically part of Issidae [e.g., Fennah 1954]; subsequently transferred to Nogodinidae [Fennah 1984], then to Tropiduchidae [Gnezdilov 2007]).

**Genus Danepteryx Uhler, 1889**

Type species (in original combination)

Danepteryx manca Uhler, 1889.

Synonyms

Epidanepteryx Bliven 1966: syn. by O’Brien 1988: 867.

Distribution

Most of the genus is endemic to California, but members are more broadly found in southwestern US and extreme northern Mexico.

Danepteryx distribution from FLOW (as of 21 Dec. 2020).

Danepteryx observation records (172 iNaturalist records – triangles – and 188 specimens records from iDigBio) (as of 12 April 2021)

Recognized species

Metcalf catalog: Metcalf 1958: 325 (in Issidae)

There are seven recognized species:

Danepteryx adiuncta Doering, 1939 – USA: CA (type from Monterey county)
Danepteryx artemisiae Kirkaldy, 1908 – USA: CA (Types from Ventura Co., Also recorded from San Diego Co., Los Angeles Co., and San Luis Obispo Counties)
Danepteryx barbarae Kirkaldy, 1908 – USA: CA; Mexico (Baja California) (Types from Santa Barbara County; also from San Jacinto Mtns. which I take to be Riverside County)
= Epidanepteryx santana Bliven, 1966: 107; syn. by O’Brien 1988a: 868. (Described from Beaumont, Riverside Co.)
Danepteryx lurida Melichar, 1906 – USA: CA (Counties: Los Angeles, Riverside (San Jacinto Mtns), Marin Co.? (“Stimson Beach”), San Francisco Co., San Mateo Co.)
Danepteryx manca Uhler, 1889 – USA: CA (Counties reported: Los Angeles, Alameda, San Diego, Monterey, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz? (Santa Cruz Mountain), Marin? (“Stimson Beach”), Ventura), UT
Danepteryx robusta Doering, 1939 – USA: CA (Types from Ventura and Riverside counties)
Danepteryx sequoiae (Bliven, 1966) – USA: CA (Humboldt County)
= Epidanepteryx sequoia Bliven, 1966: 106; comb. by O’Brien 1988a: 868.

Economic Importance

Limited.

Plant associations

Danepteryx artemisiae – Artemisia L. (sagebrush, Asteraceae)
Danepteryx manca – Artemisia L., Adenostoma Hook. & Arn. (chamise, Rosaceae)
Danepteryx sp. (tentatively artemisiae, iNaturalist record from San Clemente Island) reoirted from Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. aspleniifolius (Greene) P.H. Raven (Rosaceae, fern-leaf Catalina ironwood

Hosts from Wilson et al. (1994); plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos.

Recognition

Danepteryx is easily recognized among the Gaetuliini by the forewings, which are “strap-like” (much longer than wide), and generally exceeding the abdomen. Danepteryx is most similar to Dyctidea, and can be distinguished by the vertex nearly as long as wide (vs. much wider than long).

The genus was revised and keys to the species of Danepteryx are given by Doering (1939).

Danepteryx artemisiae

Danepteryx lurida

Danepteryx manca

The key from Doering 1939 reads:

1. Tegmina wider, not more than five times longer than greatest width, greatly widened through basal third so that claval margins touch or are almost adjacent … 2

1′. Tegmina narrow, distinctly straplike, over five times longer than greatest width, not greatly widened at base; claval margins not approaching each other … 3

2. (1) Short, stout-bodied; costal margin of tegmina almost straight, reticulation much less pronounced, only one conspicuous median longitudinal vein … D. robusta (Doering 1939: p. 143)

2′. Larger insects; basal third of costal margin greatly expanded, the tegmen at this point almost twice wider than at apical third, reticulation coarse … D. adiuncta (Doering 1939: p. 141)

3. (1) Frons wider, outer margins outwardly curved, greatest length at sides about twice median length of postclypeus, dorsal margin concave, at the point not greatly narrowed; larger, 5-51/2 mm. long … D. barbarae (Doering 1939: p. 140)

3′. Frons more wedge-shaped, considerably narrowed dorsad, one lateral margin over twice the length of postclypeus at the middle … 4

4. (3) Tegmina with one prominent middle vein, cells posterior to this smaller, forming a finer reticulation … D. artemesiae (Doering 1939: p. 139)

4′. Tegmina with longitudinal veins and crossveins all coarse, greatly elevated above the cells … 5

5. (4) Dorsal margin of frons deeply notched; very dark body coloring, … D. lurida (Doering 1939: p. 138)

5. Dorsal margin of frons almost straight; light tan, mottled with dark … D. manca (Doering 1939: p. 137)

Doering 1939 plate 18, Danepteryx

Online resources

Bugguide.
Discover Life.
FLOW.
iNaturalist.
EOL.
GBIF.
GenBank.
BOLD.
3i (Dmitry Dmitriev).
Univ. of California (D. robusta)

Collecting

Danepteryx is collected by inspecting likely host plants or sweeping.

Molecular resources

As of this writing, data for Danepteryx sp. is available on Genbank and on 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.

Bliven, B. P. 1966. New genera and species of Issidae. Occidental Entomologist 1: 103-107.

Doering, K. C. 1939. A contribution to the taxonomy of the subfamily Issinae in America north of Mexico (Fulgoridae, Homoptera). Part III. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 26: 83-167. (p. 136)

Fennah, R. G. 1954. The Higher classification of the family Issidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) with descriptions of new species. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 105(19): 455-474.

Fennah, R. G. 1984. Revisionary notes on the classification of the Nogodinidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea), with descriptions of a new genus and a new species. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 120: 81-86.

Gnezdilov, V. M. 2007. On the systematic positions of the Bladinini Kirkaldy, Tonginae Kirkaldy, and Trienopinae Fennah (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea). Zoosystematica Rossica 15: 293-297.

Kirkaldy, G. W. 1907. Leafhoppers supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, Entomological Series 3:1-186, plus 20 plates.

Kirkaldy, G. W. 1908. A brief note on three (two new) California fulgoroid Hemiptera. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 2: 22-23.

Melichar, L. 1906. Monographie der Issiden. (Homoptera). Abhandlungen der K. K. Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 3: 1-327.

Melichar, L. 1915. Monographie der Lophopinen. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 13: 337-385 [379].

Metcalf, Z. P. 1958. General catalogue of the Homoptera. Fasc. IV. Fulgoroidea, Part 15. Issidae. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. 561 pp.

O’Brien, L. B. 1988. Taxonomic changes in North American Issidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 81: 865-869.

Stål, C. 1866. Hemiptera Homoptera Latr. Hemiptera Africana vol. 3-4. Officina Norstedtiana, Stockholm, Sweden. 200 + 276 pp.

Uhler, P. R. 1889. New genera and species of American Homoptera. Transactions of the Maryland Academy of Sciences 1: 33-44.

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.