Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

 

Distribution: Holarctic.

Type species: Delphax fairmairei Perris, 1857.

Recognized species

Six currently recognized species worldwide as follows:

Muellerianella brevipennis (Boheman, 1847) - Europe, except Mediterranean region
Muellerianella extrusa (Scott, 1871) - eastern Palearctic (to China); Europe, except Mediterranean region
Muellerianella fairmairei (Perris, 1857) - Southern and western Europe, including western portion of Central Europe.
Muellerianella laminalis (Van Duzee, 1897) - widespread in eastern North America, from Florida to Ontario and Quebec

Muellerianella meadi Kennedy et al. 2012 - USA: Florida, ? Cuba
Muellerianella relicta Logvinenko, 1976 - Azerbaijan, Russia

Recorded hosts

Mostly grasses, as follows:

Muellerianella brevipennis - Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) P. Beau (Tufted Hairgrass, Poaceae)

Muellerianella fairmairei - Holcus lanatus L. (common velvetgrass), H. mollis L. (creeping velvetgrass); Juncus effusus L. (Common Rush)

Muellerianella extrusa - Molinia caerulea (L.) Moench (purple moorgrass)

Muellerianella relicta - Luzula sp. (Juncaceae)

Muellerianella laminalis - Leersia hexandra Swartz (Poaceae)

Host information from Logvinenko 1976, Drosopoulos 1976, Booij 1982, Wilson et al. 1994, Nickel 2003, Holzinger et al. 2003.

 

Economic importance

Muellerianella fairmairei is a vector of Northern cereal mosaic virus (NCMV).

 

Recognition

In North America, there is only a single described species.  It is a robust species, with a dorsal stripe and dark frons, flecked with pale. All species in the genus have an expanded 'anal angle' of the male pygofer, and tend to have black flattened parameres.

Muellerianella fairmairei

 

 

Muellerianella laminalis

Male brachypter (M. laminalis has 2 subapical retrose processes near the tip of the aedeagus, and 1 caudally directed near the middle; M. meadi has 1 retrose subapical process and 2 caudally directed near the middle; meadi may on average be paler)

Male macropter

 

Muellerianella meadi

 

Molecular resources

At this time neither Genbank or BOLD provides molecular data for this genus.  Urban et al. (2010) extracted 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I from Muellerianella fairmairei and  M. laminalis for their analyses.

 

Select references

Booij, C.J.H. 1978. Further investigations of the Muellerianella complex (Delphacidae). Auchenorrhyncha Newsletter 1: 11-12.

Booij, C.J.H. 1981. Evoluton of asexual Muellerianella forms (Delphacidae, Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha). Acta Entomologica Fennica 38:07:00

Booij, C.H.J. 1981. Biosystematics of the Muellerianella complex (Homoptera, Delphacidae), taxonomy, morphology and distribution. Netherlands Journal of Zoology 31: 572-595.

Booij, C.H.J. 1982. Biosystematics of the Muellerianella complex (Homoptera, Delphacidae), hybridization studies. Genetica 57: 161-170.

Booij, C.H.J. 1982. Biosystematics of the Muellerianella complex. Homoptera, Delphacidae. host-plants, habitats and phenology. Ecological Entomology 7: 9-18.

Booij, C.J.H. 1982. Biosystematics of the Muellerianella complex (Homoptera, Delphacidae), interspecific and geographic variation in acoustic behaviour. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 58(1): 31-52.

Booij, C.J.H. 1982. Biosystematics of the Muellerianella complex (Homoptera, Delphacidae) in western Europe - patterns of variation, interrelationsand speciation. Proefschrift, Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen. 125 pp.

Booij, C.H.J. and J.A. Guldemond. 1984. Distributional and ecological differentiation between asexual gynogenetic planthoppers and related sexual species of the genus Muellerianella (Homoptera, Delphacidae). Evolution 38(1): 163-175.

Drosopoulos, S. 1975. Some biological differences between Muellerianella fairmairei (Perris) and M. brevipennis (Boheman), a pair of sibling species of Delphacidae (Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha). Entomologische Berichten 35: 154-157.

Drosopoulos, S. 1976. Triploid pseudogamous biotype of the leafhopper Muellerianella fairmairei. Nature 263: 499-500.

Drosopoulos, S. 1977. Biosystematic studies on the Muellerianella complex (Delphacidae, Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha). Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen. (also: H. Veenman & Zonen B.V., Wageningen, Nederland). 77-14(1977): 1-133.

Drosopoulos, S. 1978. Hybridization, polyploidy and parthenogenesis in Muellerianella (Delphacidae). In: R.H. Cobben. Auchenorrhyncha Newsletter No. 1, Abstracts of Auchenorrhyncha Workshops 23-25th August 1978, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Pp. 10-11.

Drosopoulos, S. 1978. Laboratory synthesis of a pseudogamous triploid "species" of the genus Muellerianella (Homoptera, Delphacidae). Evolution 32: 916-920.

Drosopoulos, S. 1983. Some notes on the genera Muellerianella and Florodelphax from Greece (Homoptera: Delphacidae) with a description of Florodelphax mourikisi n. sp. from Ikaria Island. Entomologische Berichten 43: 72-75.

Drosopoulos, S. 1985. Acoustic communication and mating behaviour in Muellerianella complex (Homoptera-Delphacidae). Behaviour 94: 183-201.

Drosopoulos, S. and J. Sybenga. 1977. Orientation of the Heteromorphic sex-bivalent in Muellerianella (N=14, Holokinetic). Caryologia 30: 343-346.

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.

Ishii T. 1967. Note on the transmission of northern cereal mosaic virus by Muellerianella fairmairei (Perris). Japanese Journal of Applied Entomology and Zoology 11(4): 191-192.

Logvinenko, V.N. 1976. New leafhopper species of the superfamily Fulgoroidea (Auchenorrhyncha) from the Caucasus. Entomological Review 55(3): 69-74.

Nickel, H. 2003. The Leafhoppers and Planthoppers of Germany (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha), Patterns and strategies in a highly diverse group of phytophagous insects , Pensoft Series Faunistica 28, Sofia, Bulgaria.

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 references in appendix].

Witsack, W. 1971. Experimentell-ökologische Untersuchungen über Dormanzformen von Zikaden (Homoptera - Auchenorrhyncha). I. Zur Form und Induktion der Embryonaldormanz von Muellerianella brevipennis. (Boheman). (Delphacidae). Zoologische Jahrbuecher Systematik 98: 316-340.