Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Asiracinae 

Tribe Asiracini

Distribution: Palearctic (see below)

Type species (in original combination): Cicada clavicornis Fabricius, 1794.

Generic synonyms

   Manchookhonia Kato, 1933 (Type species Manchookhonia granulipennis Kato, 1933); Synonomy by Asche 1985: 116.

   Boresinia Chou in Chou et al. 1983: 60, 66; replacement name for Manchookhonia Kato [in Lophopidae]; Synonymy By Liang, 1998: 188.

Recognized species

There are five species and one subspecies currently placed in this genus.

Asiraca choui (Yuan & Wang, 1992) - China (Shaanxi)

Asiraca clavicornis (Fabricius, 1794) (= Asiraca aequinoctialis (Scopoli, 1763)) - Widespread in Europe, Russia, North Africa, Middle East, Asia
Asiraca clavicornis divisa Rey, 1891 - Germany, France
Asiraca germari Metcalf, 1943 - Brazil
Asiraca granulipennis (Kato, 1933) - China (Jinlin, Manchurua), south Korea

Asiraca longicornis Latreille 1802 - not specified

Note - Asiraca germari is unlikely to belong to this genus.

Hosts: Asiraca clavicornis is polyphagous on dicots

Economic Importance: Limited.  Asiraca clavicornis has been intercepted at a US port of Entry.

Recognition

The genus Asiraca is highly distinctive, although possibly mistaken for the New World genus Copicerus.

Asiraca germari Metcalf, 1943 is a replacement name for the unavailable Asiraca longicornis Germar 1830.  It is likely that this species should be in the genus Copicerus, but it appears that the Germar type material appears to be lost, and unless it is found, the true identity of this species can not be determined. 

Asiraca clavicornis - A distinctive, primitive species with expanded femora and tibiae of the front legs, long, flattened antennae, and the spur on the hind leg does not have teeth.

Molecular resources

On Genbank there is CO1 data for Asiraca clavicornis (here). There is no data for this genus on BOLD.  Urban et al. (2010) extracted 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I  from Asiraca clavicornis for their analyses.

Selected references

ICZN. 1999. Opinion 1935. Cicada clavicornis Fabricius, 1794 (currently Asiraca clavicornis; Insecta, Homoptera): specific name conserved. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 56(3): 211-212.

Liang, A.-P. 1998. On the Eurasian planthopper genus Asiraca Latreille (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoromorpha: Delphacidae). Reichenbachia 32: 187-196.

Wilson, M.R. and M. Asche. 1998.Cicada clavicornis Fabricius, 1794. currently Asiraca clavicornis; Insecta, Homoptera. proposed conservation of the specific name. Case 3040. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 55(2) 93-95.