Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

Distribution: Holarctic, especially north.

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

Recognized species

Note: Hamilton (2002) and Hamilton and Kwon (2010) considered Acanthodelphax Le Quesne, 1964 a subgenus of Kosswigianella.  I have placed all species within a subgenus based on prior placement in the genus or the apparent intention Hamilton (2002) and Hamilton and Kwon (2010).

Nine species are currently in this genus, as follows:

subgenus Kosswigianella Wagner, 1963

Kosswigianella exigua (Boheman, 1847) - Widespread Palearctic: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain (England, Wales), Hungary, Italy, Japan (Honshu), Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovakia. Sweden, Swizerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia

subgenus Acanthodelphax Le Quesne, 1964 (type species Delphax denticauda Boheman, 1847).

  (Links are to photos by Gernot Kunz)

Kosswigianella analis (Crawford, 1914) - Northern USA (higher elevations south) and Canada - USA: Alaska, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Wisconsin; Canada: Alberta, British Columbia  Labrador, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon
Kosswigianella denticauda (Boheman, 1847) - Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain (England, Scotland), Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland,
Kosswigianella irrutilo Hamilton 2002 - USA: Colorado
Kosswigianella kirgizorum (Anufriev, 2002) - Kyrgyzstan
Kosswigianella lutulenta (Van Duzee, 1897) - Widespread in eastern United States, also recorded in Arizona and California; Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan; Puerto Rico
Kosswigianella spinosa (Fieber, 1866) - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine
Kosswigianella transuralica (Anufriev, 1977) - Russia
Kosswigianella wasatchi Hamilton 2002 - USA: Utah

Recorded Hosts

Kosswigianella denticauda: Deschampsia caespitosa (Poaceae, a grass).

Kosswigianella spinosa: Nardus stricta, Festuca spp., Festuca cyllenica, Festuca ovina (Poaceae, grasses).

Kosswigianella exigua: Festuca ovina (Poaceae, grasses).

Kosswigianella lutulenta: Andropogon repens, Poa pratensis, Puccinellia nuttalliana (Poaceae, grasses).

Sources for host information: Wilson et al. (1994), Holzinger et al. (2003)

Economic Importance: Probably limited.

Recognition

Hamilton (2002) notes that the dark abdomen with respect to the rest of the body is characteristic for the genus.  Acanthodelphax s.s. has a tooth at the ventral margin of the opening of the pygofer.

Kosswigianella analis

Kosswigianella denticauda

Male

Female

Kosswigianella irrutilo

Kosswigianella lutulenta

Kosswigianella spinosa

Kosswigianella transuralica

Kosswigianella wasatchi

Molecular resources

At this time, neither Genbank or Bold has molecular resources for this genus.  Urban et al. (2010) sequenced 4 genetic loci (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I) for Kosswigianella analis, and Kosswigianella denticauda.

Selected References

Anufriev, G. A. 1977.Two New Species of Auchenorrhynchous Insects from the Temperate Asia. Reichenbachia 16(21): 211-215.

Hamilton, K.G.A. 2002. Homoptera (Insecta) in Pacific Northwest grasslands. Part 1 - New and revised taxa of leafhoppers and planthoppers (Cicadellidae and Delphacidae). Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 99: 3-31.

Hamilton, K.G.A & Kwon, Y. J.  2010. Chapter 19. Taxonomic supplement to "short-horned" bugs (Homoptera) of the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone.  In: D. MacAlpine (Ed.), Assessment of Species Diversity in the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone. NRC Press Biodiversity Monograph Series. Pp. 421–431. 

Holzinger, W. E., I. Kammerlander, and H. Nickel. 2003. Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha excluding Cicadellidae. Volume 1. The Auchenorrhyncha of Central Europe. Brill Academic Publishing, Leiden, Netherlands.

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 [host information in the appendix].