Tribe Saccharosydnini Vilbaste, 1968
Family Delphacidae
Subfamily Delphacinae
Tribe Saccharosydnini Vilbaste, 1968
The Saccharosydnini are unusual delphacids in that they are fragile-appearing, usually thin-bodied and generally have a green-theme (fading to yellow in preserved specimens). In contrast to the remaining Delphacinae, they have the apical spines on the tibiae of the hind legs bearing 7 spines (grouped into 2 inner and 5 outer), as opposed to 5 spines (2+3) in other Delphacinae.
Interestingly, the first species described in this group was described (as Delphax saccharivora - the specific name literally 'sugar-eater') as a sugarcane pest in Grenada in 1833 (sugarcane is not native to the New World). It was over 100 years later that it was determined that the native hosts were Andropogon grasses by Metcalfe (1969). Species in this tribe are the only known delphacid vectors of phytoplasmas.
Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westwood, 1833).
Leg of Neomalaxa flava from Asche (1985).
Also in Saccharosydini, the aedeagus is very elongate and "...in repose curved in membranous bag of diaphragm reaching far cephalad into the abdomen" (Asche 1990: 157). This feature is not nearly as evident in some taxa as it is in Saccharosydne procerus (below), but the aedeagus is clearly thin, flexible, and extending further forward into the body cavity then other Delphacinae.
From Asche (1985)
New World species (All species of this tribe are New World, except Saccharosydne procerus Matsumura, 1931, from Japan, China, Korea, nearby Russia and Taiwan)
Genus species |
Range |
| Lacertina Remes Lenicov & Rossi Batiz, 2011 | |
| australis Remes Lenicov & Rossi Batiz, 2011 | Argentina |
|
|
flava Muir, 1918 |
Brazil, Dominica, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Venezuela |
|
|
wagneri Muir, 1930 |
Argentina |
|
|
brevirostris Muir, 1926 |
Ecuador |
gracillis Muir, 1926 |
Brazil |
ornatipennis Muir, 1926 |
Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, St. Lucia, |
rostrifrons (Crawford, 1914)
|
Caribbean, Cuba, St. Lucia |
saccharivora (Westwood, 1833)
|
USA: FL, GA, HI, MD, NC, ?WI; Bahamas (Great Abaco, Long, Mangrove Cay, New Providence); Barbados, Bermuda, Cuba, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Venezuela.
|
subandina Remes Lenicov and Rossi Batiz, 2010 |
Argentina |
viridis Muir, 1926 |
Guyana (as British Guiana) |
Selected References
Asche, M. 1985. Zur Phylogenie der Delphacidae Leach, 1815 (Homoptera: Cicadina: Fulgoromorpha). Marburger Entomologische Publikationen 2(1): 1-398 and 2(2): 399-910 .
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.
Kennedy, A. C., C. R. Bartlett, and S. W. Wilson. 2012. An annotated checklist of the delphacid planthoppers (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) of Florida with the description of three new species and the new genus, Meristopsis. Florida Entomologist 95(2): 395-421.
Metcalfe, J. R. 1969. Studies on the biology of the sugar cane pest Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westw.) (Hom.: Delphacidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research 59: 393-408.
Rossi Batiz, M. F. and A.M.M. de Remes-Lenicov. 2011. A new genus and species of Saccharosydnini (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Delphacidae) from Argentina. Zootaxa 3118: 62-68.
Vilbaste, J. 1968. K faune tsikadovykh Primorskogo kraia. [Über die Zikadenfauna des Primorje Gebietes.] Valgus, Tallin, Estonia
