Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Plesiodelphacinae 

Tribe Plesiodelphacini

Distribution: Neotropical.

Type species (in original combination): Delphax pictifrons Stål, 1864.

Recognized species

There are 5 species and 1 subspecies currently placed in this genus.

Burnilia belemensis Muir, 1926 - Venezuela , Brazil, ?Belize
Burnilia heliconiae Muir, 1926 - Guyana
Burnilia pictifrons (Stål, 1864) - Mexico, Belize, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras
Burnilia spinifera spinifera Fennah, 1945 - Dominica, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Guyana
Burnilia spinifera antillana Fennah, 1959 - St. Vincent, Dominica
Burnilia williamsi Muir, 1926 - Brazil

There are  also numerous undescribed species.

Hosts:

Burnilia heliconiae and Burnilia spinifera antillana reported from Heliconia spp. (Heliconiaceae).

I have undescribed species from Costa Rica, Belize, Ecuador and Peru that I have collected from Heliconia.  Nymphs and adults are found within rolls of young leaves.

Economic Importance: Limited.. 

Recognition

Undescribed Burnilia from Belize

Leg - Undescribed Burnilia from Peru

Molecular resources

There are no data on this genus in Genbank or BOLD.   Urban et al. (2010) sequence 4 genetic loci (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I) for an undescribed Burnilia from Belize.

Selected references

Asche, M. 1985a. Zur Phylogenie der Delphacidae Leach, 1815 (Homoptera: Cicadina: Fulgoromorpha). Marburger Entomologische Publikationen 2(1):1-398 AND 2(2): 399-910.

Asche, M. 1985b. A new subfamily, genus and species of Delphacidae from South America: Plesiodelphacinae subfam. nov., Plesiodelphax guayanus gen. et spec. nov. (Homoptera Fulgoroidea). Marburger Entomologische Publikationen 1(10) : 219-240.

Asche, M. 1990. Vizcayinae, a new subfamily of Delphacidae with revision of Vizcaya Muir (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) - a significant phylogenetic link. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 30: 154-187.

Fennah, R. G. 1945. The Fulgoroidea, or lanternflies, of Trinidad and adjacent parts of South America. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 95(3184): 411-520.

Fennah, R. G. 1959. Delphacidae from the Lesser Antilles (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 8: 245-265.

Muir, F.A.G. 1926b. Contributions to our knowledge of South American Fulgoroidea (Homoptera). Part I. The Family Delphacidae. Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, Entomological Series, Bulletin 18: 1-51, plates 1-5.

Muir, F.A.G. and Giffard, W. M. 1924a. Studies in North American Delphacidae. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association Division of Entomology 15: 1-53.

Stål, C. 1864a. Hemiptera Mexicana enumeravit speciesque novas descript. (Continuatio), Entomologische Zeitung (Stettin). Herausgegeben von dem entomologischen Vereine zu Stettin. 25: 49-86.