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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 Misodema Melichar, 1907.

Type species (in original combination): Misodema reticulata Melichar, 1906 as Rileya reticulata Melichar, 1906.

Synonyms

•  Rileya Melichar, 1906 (nec Huene 1902) (preoccupied)
• Mesodema Melichar, 1907; missp. by Caldwell 1945: 97.

Distribution

Southwestern USA and Adjacent Mexico

Recognized species

There are 2 species recognized in the genus (Metcalf catalog – M<etcaf 1958: 301):

1. Misodema reticulata Melichar, 1906 USA: AZ, TX; Mexico?
2. Misodema dubia Caldwell, 1945 – Mexico (Coahuila)

Economic Importance

Limited.

Plant associations

None reported

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

Recognition

Genus reviewed in Doering 1938: 538.

Misodema can be recognized among the Gaetuliini by the forewings not strap-like, covering the abdomen; forewing opaque, elongate, costal margin nearly straight; vertex obtusely produced for a distance nearly equal to the width of the eye; hind tibiae with 4 lateral spines.

This genus is most easily mistaken for Issidae (to me, especially Paralixes).

Misodema dubia description from Caldwell 1945

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online resources

Bugguide.
Discover Life.
FLOW.
EOL.
GBIF.
iNaturalist.
3i (Dmitry Dmitriev).
BOLD. (Genus not included, link to subfamily)
GenBank.

Collecting

Misodema is collected by inspecting likely host plants or sweeping.

Molecular resources 

As of this writing, no data for Misodema is available 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.

Caldwell, J. S. 1945. Notes on Issidae from Mexico (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 38: 89-120.

Doering. K. C. 1938. A contribution to the taxonomy of the subfamily Issinae in America north of Mexico (Fulgoroidea: Homoptera. Part II. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 25(20): 447-575.

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. (p. 301)

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

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. 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.  (p. 744-745)

Van Duzee, E. P. 1938. Genus Dictydea Uhler (Homoptera, Issidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 14: 33-35.

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.