Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

 

Distribution: Mostly Palearctic, but with species placed in the genus in Africa, Australia, and the Neotropics.  There are no species of Dicranotropis in North America.

Type species (in original combination): Delphax hamata Boheman, 1847 .

Subgenera: The recognized subgenera are Dicranotropis (includes D. hamata) and Leimonodite Kirkaldy 1907 (includes D. beckeri, D. divergens, and D. montanta), but all species have not been assigned to subgenera.

Generic synonymy: Phacalastor Kirkaldy, 1906: 408 (type species Phacalastor pseudomaidis Kirkaldy, 1906: 408); Synonymy made by Muir, 1915: 266.  Treated as valid by Fennah, 1965: 17; 1975: 91-92 and subsequent authors (but no statement was made regarding the prior synonymy with Dicranotropis). Here considered valid.

Recognized species

29 currently recognized species worldwide as follows (distribution records incomplete):

New World species (these species probably incorrectly placed to genus)

1 Dicranotropis acheron Fennah, 1957 - Chile: Juan Fernandez Island

2 Dicranotropis basifuscata (Fowler, 1905) - Mexico

3 Dicranotropis bipectinata Muir, 1926 - Ecuador

4Dicranotropis fuscoterminata (Berg, 1879) - Argentina

Old World species
1 Dicranotropis alope Fennah, 1961 - Senegal
2 Dicranotropis aristoxena Kirkaldy, 1907 - Australia: Queensland
3 Dicranotropis beckeri (Fieber, 1866) - Russia, Turkestan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
4 Dicranotropis botelensis Matsumura, 1940 - Taiwan
5 Dicranotropis bridwelli Muir, 1920 - Nigeria, West Africa
6 Dicranotropis carpathica Horvath, 1884 - Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia
7 Dicranotropis divergens Kirschbaum, 1868 - Widespread in Europe; Great Britain, Russia, Japan
8 Dicranotropis esakii Ishihara, 1949 - Japan
9 Dicranotropis fumosa Matsumura, 1910 - Japan, Taiwan
10 Dicranotropis granulipennis Kato, 1932 - Japan
11 Dicranotropis hamata (Boheman, 1835) - widespread Europe; Great Britain, Russia, Algeria, Tunisia, Mongolia
12 Dicranotropis insignis Muir, 1926 - Mentawei Islands (East Indies)
13 Dicranotropis jamiana Matsumura, 1940 - Taiwan
14 Dicranotropis lunaris Melichar, 1905 - Tanzania
15 Dicranotropis lunulifera (Melichar, 1912) - Congo, "French Equatorial Africa"
16 Dicranotropis manicata (Hesse, 1925) - South Africa
17 Dicranotropis montana Vilbaste, 1965 - Russia (Altai Mtns)
18 Dicranotropis montanella Lindberg, 1958 - Cape Verde Island
19 Dicranotropis montanus (Horvath, 1897) - Hungary, Austria, Romania
20 Dicranotropis narnia Fennah, 1958 - Senegal
21 Dicranotropis palamedes Fennah, 1958 - South Africa
22 Dicranotropis sagata Logvinenko, 1976 - Russia (Georgia)
23 Dicranotropis tikuzenensis Matsumura & Ishihara, 1949 - Japan (Kyushu, Shikoku)
24 Dicranotropis turneri Muir, 1929 - South Africa
25 Dicranotropis zenata Logvinenko, 1969 - Russia (Georgia)

 

Recorded hosts

Dicranotropis divergens: Grasses - Nardus sp., Deschampsia flexuosa, Festuca rubra, Dactylis glomerata, Holcus sp.

Dicranotropis fumosa: Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)

Dicranotropis hamata: Maize, Oats, Grasses - Elymus repens, Dactylis glomerata, Festuca arundinacea

Economic importance

Dicranotropis fuscoterminata has been reported in and near Maize in Argentina. Dicranotropis fumosa has been reported on sugarcane, and an undetermined Dicranotropis on rice in the Philippines (Luzon Island).

Dicranotropis hamata (Boheman) is a vector of Maize rough dwarf virus (MRDV), Oat sterile dwarf virus (OSDV), and Phleum green stripe virus (PGSV).  See also Leafhopper, Planthopper and Psyllid Vectors of Plant Disease website

Recognition of potentially invasive species (no photos available of the South American species)

A characteristic feature of the genus is the conspicuous carinae of the frons with the middle carina forked low on the face. All photos below are of males.  The diagnostic features at the species level are mainly those of male genitalia.

Dicranotropis beckeri

Dicranotropis divergens

 

Dicranotropis hamata - the expanded dorsal portion of the male pygofer is a characteristic of the species.

 

Molecular resources

GenBank includes sequence data for two species (D. beckeri and D. hamata); a third listed Dicranotropis species in Genbank is actually a Phacalastor (Phacalastor pseudomaidis). BOLD does not provide any sequence data for Dicranotropis.

 

Selected References

Asche, M. 1983. Zur Identitat von Dicranotropis anaxarchi Muir, 1926, Delphacodoides ornata Muir, 1929 und Alatades trilineus Dlabola, 1957 (Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha Fulgoromorpha Delphacidae). Marburger Entomologische Publikationen 1(8): 227-234.

de Remes-Lenicov, A.M.M. 1996. The genus Dicranotropis Fieber, 1866, in Argentina and Chile. (Insecta: Homoptera: Delphacidae). Acta Entomologica Chilena 20: 123-128.

de Remes-Lenicov, A.M.M., R Mariani, and A. C. Costamagna. 1997. [Morphological and bioecological aspects of Dicranotropis fuscoterminata of maize crops (Insecta: Homoptera: Delphacidae).] Neotropica (La Plata) 43(109-110): 7-14 [Spanish with English summary].

Kuoh, C. L. 1982. A new genus and two new species of the Dicranotropis group (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 7(1): 78-82 [in Chinese].

Lindsten, K. 1974. Planthopper-transmitted virus diseases of cereals in Sweden. Mikrobiologija. 11 (1): 55-66.

Lindsten, K. 1979. Planthopper vectors and plant disease agents in Fennoscandia. Pp. 155- 178. In: K. Maramorosch and K.F. Harris (eds.). Leafhopper vectors and plant disease agents. Academic Press, New York.

Raatikainen, M. and A. Vasarainen. 1964. Biology of Dicranotropis hamata (Boh.) (Hom., Araeopidae). Annales Agricultura Fennici 3: 311-323.