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Family Tropiduchidae Stål, 1866

Subfamily Elicinae Melichar, 1915

Tribe Elicinae 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 Dictyssa Melichar, 1906.

Type species (in original combination):  Dictyssa areolata Melichar, 1906.

Synonyms

none.

Distribution

Western USA and northern Mexico.

Recognized species

There are 17 species recognized in the genus:

Dictyssa areolata Melichar, 1906 – USA: CA
Dictyssa beameri Doering, 1936: 443 – USA: CA, NV
Dictyssa clathrata Melichar, 1906 – USA: CA
Dictyssa doeringae (Ball, 1936) – USA: CA
= Dictyonia doeringae Ball, 1936: 157. = Dictyssa doeringae (Ball, 1936); comb. by Doering 1941: 214.
= Dictyssa balli Doering, 1936: 445; syn. by Doering 1941: 214.
Dictyssa fenestrata Ball, 1910 – USA: CA
Dictyssa fusca Melichar, 1906 – USA: CA
Dictyssa leonilae O’Brien, 1986a – Mexico (Baja California)
Dictyssa maculosa Doering, 1936 – USA: CA
Dictyssa marginepuncatata Melichar, 1906 – USA: CA; Mexico (Baja California)
Dictyssa mira Van Duzee, 1928 – USA: CA
Dictyssa monroviana Doering, 1936: 448 – USA: CA
Dictyssa mutata Melichar, 1906 – USA: CA
Dictyssa obliqua Ball, 1910 – USA: CA; Mexico (Baja California)
Dictyssa ovata Ball, 1910 – USA: CA; Mexico (Baja California)
Dictyssa quadravitrea Doering, 1936: 441 – USA: CA
Dictyssa schuhi O’Brien, 1986b – USA: CA, OR
Dictyssa transversa Van Duzee, 1914 – USA: CA

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants:

• Dictyssa fenestrata – Simmondsia chinensis (Link) C.K. Schneid. (jojoba, Simmondsiaceae)
• Dictyssa leonilae  – Juniperus californica Carrière (California juniper, Cupressaceae)
• Dictyssa marginepuncatata – Simmondsia chinensis (Link) C.K. Schneid.
• Dictyssa obliqua – Ambrosia chenopodiifolia (Benth.) Payne (San Diego bur ragweed, Asteraceae)
• Dictyssa schuhi – Purshia tridentata (Pursh) DC. (antelope bitterbrush, Rosaceae), Ceanothus velutinus Douglas ex Hook. (snowbrush ceanothus, Rhamnaceae)
• Dictyssa transversa – Artemesia sp. (sagebrush, Asteraceae), Sideroxylon sp. (Sapotaceae), Zea mays L. (corn, maize; Poaceae)

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

Recognition:

This genus was revied by Doering 1936.

Dictyssa can be recognized among the Gaetuliini by the forewings covering the abdomen (vs. Danepteryx, Dyctidea, or Osbornia); forewing nearly as wide as long and semicircular in shape, costal margin decidedly rounding; forewing partly opaque, usually with an oblique hyaline band across clavus and corium; veins of corium forming small irregular cells (vs. few large cells in Dictyonia), some of which usually (not always) are vitreous or light colored.

A key to species is given in Doering 1936.

Online resources

Bugguide
Discover Life.
FLOW.
EOL.
GBIF.
iNaturalist.
3i (Dmitry Dmitriev).
GenBank.
BOLD (genus not listed – link to subfamily).
University of California (Dyctssa obliqua)

Collecting

Dictyssa is collected by inspecting likely host plants or sweeping.

Molecular resources

As of this writing, data for Dictyssa is available on Genbank; but no data is available on Barcode of life.

Selected references

Ball, E. D. 1910. New genera and species of Issidae (Fulgoridae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 23: 41-45.

Ball, E. D. 1936. Some new Issidae with notes on others (Homoptera- Fulgoridae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 49: 155-157.

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.

Doering, K. C. 1936. A contribution to the taxonomy of the subfamily Issinae in America north of Mexico (Fulgoroidea: Homoptera. Part I. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 24(17): 421-467.

Doering, K. C. 1941. A contribution to the taxonomy of the subfamily Issinae in America north of Mexico (Fulgoroidea: Homoptera. Part IV. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 27(10):185-233.

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. 1986a. A new species of Dictyssa (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Issidae) from Baja California. Anales del Instituto de Biologia Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Serie Zoologia 56(1): 137-140 [Dictyssa leonilae]

O’Brien, L. B. 1986b. Five new species of Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from the western United States and Mexico. Southwestern Entomologist 11(2): 67-74.  [Dictyssa schuhi]

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.

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

Van Duzee, E. P. 1928. Two interesting additions to the Hemipteroid fauna of California. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 4: 90-91.

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.