Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

 

Distribution: Primarily on the east and west coasts of North America and the Caribbean (but found wherever Spartina occurs; Prokelisia salina is western in non-coastal situations); probably in Mexico; introduced into England.

Type species (in original combination): Prokelisia setigera Osborn, 1905, Junior synonym of Megamelus marginatus Van Duzee, 1897.

Generic synonym: Prokelisoidea McDermott, 1952: 57 (type species Kelisia salina Ball, 1902; synonym by Wilson, 1982: 533).

Recognized species

Five valid species as follows:

Prokelisia carolae Wilson, 1982 - USA: California; Canada: British Columbia
Prokelisia crocea (Van Duzee, 1897) - Widespread in eastern North America from Gulf coast states to southern Canada
Prokelisia dolus Wilson, 1982 - USA:  Widespread in eastern North America from Gulf coast states to southern Canada; also California
Prokelisia marginata (Van Duzee, 1897) - Widespread in eastern North America from Gulf coast states to southern Canada; Also England, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain (introduced)
Prokelisia salina (Ball, 1902) - Widespread in Central and Western North America, especially southwest but north to Nunavut; also Bahamas (Abaco Cays, Andros, Exuma Cays, Eleuthera, New Providence).

 

Hosts:

Prokelisia dolus - Spartina alterniflora Loisel.  (smooth cordgrass)

Prokelisia marginata - Spartina alterniflora Loisel. 

Prokelisia salina - Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook.) Scribn. (prairie sandreed); Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene (as Distichlis stricta) (saltgrass)

Economic Importance:

Potentially useful as a biocontrol agent (viz. Prokelisia marginata) of Spartina anglica (English cordgrass), in Washington where this grass has been introduced (Wu et al. 1999) (see Daehler and Strong 1996).

Prokelisia marginata has been inadvertently introduced to England.

Used extensively as a ecological model over nearly 30 years by Denno and colleagues (see Eubanks et al. 2011), particularly as a model for tritrophic ecological interactions and regarding between habitat and life history parameters.

Recognition

Wilson (1982) most recently revised the genus and Heady and Wilson (1990) provide features of female gentaila.  See also Denno et al. (1987).

Prokelisia is frequently abundant where in the vicinity of its host plant, although individuals can be collected at lights some distance from their expected habitat.

Except for Prokelisia crocea, members of this genus are very slightly dorsoventrally flattened, pale colored, with dark infuscations along the carinae of the frons.

Prokelisia crocea is distinctive in being larger than most members of the genus and having orangish markings on the face and thorax.  Prokelisia salina tends to be western and is more likely than some of the other species to be found inland; it can be separated from its congeners be the parallel-sided frons and diverging parameres.  Prokelisia carolae is a local species that is infrequently encountered.  Prokelisia marginata and P. dolus are quite similar and are found in broadly sympatric ranges.  Prokelisia dolus tends to have a much broader frons near the frontoclypeal suture than does P. marginata, but this difference is not always satisfactory.  More definitive is to view the male pygofer from lateral view (see figs. 7 and 10 in Wilson 1982), in Prokelisia dolus the parameres are inflected caudally near the apex, whereas in P. marginata the apices are dorsally directed.

 

Prokelisia crocea

 

Prokelisia dolus

Prokelisia marginata

Prokelisia salina

 

Molecular resources: 

Genbank has molecular data for Prokelisia marginata and P. dolus (here).  BOLD appears to have no barcode data for this genus.  Urban et al. (2010) extracted 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I from Prokelisia dolus, P. marginata, P. salina, and P. crocea for their analyses.

 

Selected References

Badmin, J. J., & Witts, T. T. 2009. Cord-grass planthopper Prokelisia marginata (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) sweeps into Kent. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History 22(4): 213-215.

Baum, K. A., K. J. Haynes, F. P. Dillemuth, and J. T. Cronin. 2004. The matrix enhances the effectiveness of corridors and stepping stones. Ecology 85(10): 2671-2676.

Cronin, J. T. 2007. Shared parasitoids in a metacommunity: indirect interactions inhibit herbivore membership in local communities. Ecology 88: 2977-2990.

Cronin, J. T. and D. R. Strong. 1990. Biology of Anagrus delicatus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), an egg parasitoid of Prokelisia marginata (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 83(4): 846-854.

Daehler, C. C. and D. R. Strong. 1996. Status, prediction and prevention of introduced cordgrass Spartina spp. invasions in Pacific estuaries, USA. Biological Conservation 78: 51–58.

Denno, R. F. 1980. Ecotope differentiation in a guild of sap-feeding insects on the salt marsh grass, Spartina patens. Ecology 61(3):702-714.

Denno, R. F. and E. E. Grissell. 1979. The adaptiveness of wing dimorphism in a salt marsh-inhabiting planthopper, Prokelisia marginata (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Ecology 60(1):221-236.

Denno, R. F. and E. S. McCloud. 1985. Predicting fecundity from body size in the planthopper, Prokelisia marginata (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Environmental Entomology 14(6):846-849.

Denno, R. F., L. W. Douglass, and D. Jacobs. 1985. Crowding and host plant nutrition: Environmental determinants of wing-form in Prokelisia marginata. Ecology 66(5):1588-1596.

Denno, R. F., M. E. Schauff, S. W. Wilson, and K. L. Olmstead. 1987. Practical diagnosis and natural history of two sibling salt marsh-inhabiting planthoppers in the genus Prokelisia (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 89(4):687-700.

Denno, R. F., M.J. Raupp., D.W. Tallamy and C.F. Reichelderfer. 1980. Migration in heterogenous environments: Differences in habitat selection between the wing forms of the dimorphic planthopper Prokelisia marginata (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Ecology 61(4):859-867.

Eubanks, M. D., Raupp, M. J., & Finke, D. L. 2011. Robert F. Denno (1945–2008): Insect Ecologist Extraordinaire. Annual Review of Entomolology 56(1): 273-292.

Grevstad, F. S., Switzer, R. W., & Wecker, M. S. 2004. Habitat trade-offs in the summer and winter performance of the planthopper Prokelisia marginata introduced against the intertidal grass Spartina alterniflora in Willapa Bay, Washington.  Pp. 523-528. In: J.M. Cullen, D.T. Briese, D.J. Kriticos, W.M. Lonsdale, L. Morin and J.K. Scott (eds.). Proceedings of the XI International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, Canberra, Australia, 27 April - 2 May, 2003. (available http://www.csiro.au/files/files/pvq7.pdf).

Grevstad, F. S., Strong, D. R., Garcia-Rossi, D. D., Switzer, R. W., & Wecker, M. S. 2003. Biological control of Spartina alterniflora in Willapa Bay, Washington using the planthopper Prokelisia marginata: agent specificity and early results. Biological Control, 27(1), 32-42.

Gustafson, D. J., Kilheffer, J., & Silliman, B. R. 2006. Relative effects of Littoraria irrorata and Prokelisia marginata on Spartina alterniflora. Estuaries and Coasts 29(4): 639-644.

Heady, S. E. 1993. Factors affecting female sexual receptivity in the planthopper, Prokelisia dolus. Physiological Entomology 18(3): 263-270.

Heady, S. E. and R. F. Denno. 1991. Reproductive isolation in Prokelisia Planthoppers (Homoptera: Delphacidae): Acoustic differentiation and hybridization failure. Journal of Insect Behavior 4(3): 367-390.

Heady, S. E. and S. W. Wilson. 1990. The planthopper genus Prokelisia (Homoptera: Delphacidae): morphology of female genitalia and copulatory behaviour. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 63(2): 267-278.

Holder, M. D. and S. W. Wilson. 1992. Life history of the delphacid planthopper Prokelisia crocea (Homoptera: Fulgoridea). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 100(3):491-497.

McCoy, E. D. and J. R. Rey. 1981. Patterns of abundance, distribution, and alary polymorphism among the salt marsh Delphacidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) of northwest Florida. Ecological Entomology 6(3): 285-291.

McDermott, B. T. 1952. A revision of the genus Megamelanus and its allies (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea, Delphacidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 25: 41-49.

Miller, A. T, and S. W. Wilson. 1999. The planthopper genus Prokelisia: Exoskeletal morphology of the tymbals (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoromorpha: Delphacidae). Reichenbachia 33(1): 37-42.

Olmstead, K. L., R .F. Denno, T.C. Morton, and J.T. Romeo. 1997. Influence of Prokelisia planthoppers on amino acid composition and growth of Spartina alterniflora. Journal of Chemical Ecology 23(2): 303-321.

Raupp, M. J. and R. F. Denno. 1979. The influence of patch size on a guild of sap-feeding insects that inhabit the salt marshed grass Spartina patens. Environmental Entomology 8(3): 412-417.

Reeve, J. D. and J. T. Cronin. 2010. Edge behaviour in a minute parasitic wasp. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 483-490.

Seljak, G. 2004. Prokelisia marginata (Van Duzee, 1897) - a Nearctic planthopper new to Slovenia and Europe (Auchenorrhyncha: Delphacidae). Acta Entomologica Slovenica 12(2): 260-263 [in Slovenian].

Stiling, P. D. and D. R. Strong. 1982. The parasitoids of the planthopper Prokelisia marginata (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Florida Entomologist 65(1):191-192.

Stiling, P. D. and D. R. Strong. 1982. Egg density and the intensity of parasitism in Prokelisia marginata (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Ecology 63(6): 1630-1635.

Stiling, P. D., A. Throckmorton, J. Silvanima, and D. R. Strong. 1991. Biology of and rates of parasitism by nymphal and adult parasites of the salt-marsh-inhabiting planthoppers Prokelisia marginata and P. dolus. Florida Entomologist 74(1): 81-87.

Strong, D. R. 1988. A mite, Ogmotarsonemus erepsis (Tarsonemidae), in oviposition incisions of the planthopper Prokelisia marginata (Homoptera, Delphacidae) on the saltmarsh cordgress, Spartina alterniflora. Florida Entomologist 71(3): 387-389.

Strong, D. R. and P. D. Stiling. 1983. Wing dimorphism changed by experimental density manipulation in a planthopper (Prokelisia marginata, Homoptera, Delphacidae). Ecology 64(1): 206-209.

Trjapitzin. S. V. and D. R. Strong. 1995. A new Anagrus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), egg parasitoid of Prokelisia spp. (Homoptera: Delphacidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 71(4): 199-203.

Wilson, S. W. 1982. The planthopper genus Prokelisia in the United States (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Delphacidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 55(3): 532-546.

Wu, M., Hacker, S., Ayres, D., and Strong, D. R. 1999. Potential of Prokelisia spp. as Biological Control Agents of English Cordgrass, Spartina anglica. Biological Control 16(3): 267-273.