Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

Distribution: Widespread in tropical regions.

Type species (in original combination): Delphax matanitu Kirkaldy 1907, a junior synonym of Delphax disonymos Kirkaldy 1907.

Recognized species

There are 8 species described species in this genus. Additional species belonging to this genus are currently misplaced in the polyphyletic genus Delphacodes.  This genus is being revised and the transfer of these species is expected in the near future.

New World

Syndelphax alexanderi (Metcalf, 1923) - USA: AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, IL, KS, KY, MD, MO, MS, NC, NJ, TN, VA

  = Liburnia alexanderi Metcalf 1923; Delphacodes alexanderi (Metcalf, 1923); see Kennedy et al. 2012.

  = Delphacodes uhleri Muir & Giffard, 1924; see Kennedy et al. 2012.

Syndelphax dissipatus (Muir, 1926) - Brazil, Ecuador (Galapagos)
Syndelphax dolosa (Muir, 1926) - Brazil

Syndelphax fallax (Muir, 1926) - Brazil; USA: Texas

Syndelphax floridae (Muir & Giffard, 1924) - USA: FL; Belize, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Mexico (Tamaulipas)

  = Delphacodes floridae Muir & Giffard, 1924; see Kennedy et al. 2012.

Syndelphax floridae puertoricensis (Caldwell, 1951) - Puerto Rico

  = Delphacodes floridae puertoricensis (Caldwell, 1951); see Kennedy et al. 2012.

Syndelphax fulvidorsum (Metcalf, 1923) - USA: FL, GA, MO, NC, SC, TX; Bahamas (Rum Cay, Exuma Cays); Belize, Bermuda, Cuba, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico (Jalisco, Morelos, San Luis Potosí), Panama, Puerto Rico

  = Liburnia fulvidorsum Metcalf 1923; Delphacodes fulvidorsum (Metcalf, 1923); see Kennedy et al. 2012.

Syndelphax humilis (Van Duzee, 1907) -  USA: FL; Argentina, Bahamas (Eleuthera, San Salvador); Belize, Brazil, Cayman Islands (Cayman Brac), Cuba, Ecuador, Guadelupe, Guyana, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Mexico (Veracruz), Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico

   = Liburnia humilis Van Duzee, 1907; Delphacodes humilis (Van Duzee, 1907); see Kennedy et al. 2012.

Syndelphax nigripennis (Crawford, 1915 - USA: TX; Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico

Syndelphax pseudoseminiger (Muir & Giffard, 1924) - USA: Florida, Georgia

  = Liburnia pseudoseminigra (Muir and Giffard, 1924); Kennedy et al. 2012.

Old World

Syndelphax agametor Fennah, 1975 - Sri Lanka
Syndelphax capellanus (Jacobi, 1917) - Madagascar
Syndelphax disonymos (Kirkaldy, 1907) - Vietnam, Fiji, New Caledonia, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Africa, Taiwan, Cayman Island (Grand Caymen; Fennah, 1971; possibly in error).
Syndelphax euonymus (Fennah, 1965) - Australia: Queensland; Sri Lanka
Syndelphax euroclydon Fennah, 1975 - Sri Lanka

 

Economic importance: Unclear, but none are known to be pests.

Syndelphax pseudoseminiger (as Liburnia pseudoseminigra) has been reported as a pest of St. Augustine Grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) in Florida.

 

Host plants:

Apparently none reported (probably grasses).

Syndelphax pseudoseminiger (as Liburnia pseudoseminigra) : St. Augustine Grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) in Florida (see Cherry et al. 2006).

 

Recognition

Species of Syndelphax are usually yellow to straw-colored.  Brachypters are very common and males often have contrasting dark tegmina (rarely females also).  Females can not be identified to species except by association with a male, or through a process of elimination based on a detailed understanding of the local fauna.  Females are strikingly similar to Toya, Metadelphax, Harmalia, and some Delphacodes and generic placement of females in the absence of males can be doubtful.  Macropters are common and are often found at lights.

Features of Syndelphax was discussed relative to Metadelphax and Toya by Gonzon and Bartlett (2008).  All of these genera are pale-colored, with the dorsocaudal margins of the pygofer (the 'anal angle', Metcalf, 1949) expanded, and have processes on segment 10 that are closely approximated.  Metadelphax and Syndelphax both have the armature of the genital diaphragm taller than wide (tending to be narrowly spoon-shaped in Syndelphax).  In Metadelphax the expanded pygofer is inflected medially at the apex, whereas in Syndelphax it is not.

Species of Syndelphax seem to most clearly differ in the form of the aedeagus.

Syndelphax alexanderi

 

Syndelphax dolosa - Holotype

 

Syndelphax fallax - holotype

Syndelphax floridae - male

Syndelphax floridae - female

Syndelphax fulvidorsum

 

Syndelphax humilis

 

Syndelphax disonymos

 

 

Molecular resources:

At this time Genbank and Bold do not have molecular data for this genus.  

 

Selected References

Beamer, R. H. 1947. Some new species of Delphacodes (continued) with two old ones (Homoptera: Fulgoridae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 20(2): 58-71 [redescription of fallax with Texas record].

Cherry, R.H., P. Stansly, R. Nagata and S. Halbert. 2006. Liburnia pseudoseminigra (Delphacidae: Homoptera), a new and unusual pest of St. Augustine grass. Florida Entomologist 89(4): 459-461.

Fennah, R. G. 1963. New Genera of Delphacidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B) 32: 15-16.

Fennah, R. G. 1967. Fulgoridae of the Galápagos Archipelago. Proceedings of the California Academy of Science, fourth series 35(4): 53-102. [S. dissipatus reported]

Fennah, R. G. 1971. Fulgoroidea from the Cayman Islands and adjacent Areas. Journal of Natural History 5: 299-342.

Fennah, R. G. 1975. Homoptera: Delphacidae from Ceylon. Entomologica Scandinavica (Supplement) 4: 79-136.

Gonzon, A. T. and C. R. Bartlett. 2008 (dated 2007). Systematics of Hadropygos n. g., Metadelphax Wagner and New World Toya Distant (Hemiptera: Delphacidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 133(3/4): 205-277.

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.

Kirkaldy, G. W. 1907. Leafhoppers supplement (Hemiptera). Bulletin of the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, Entomological Series 3:1-186, plus 20 plates. [From Google Books]

Muir, F.A.G. 1926b. Contributions to our knowledge of South American Fulgoroidea (Homoptera). Part I. The Family Delphacidae. Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, Entomological Series, Bulletin 18:1-51, plates 1-5.

Yang, C. T. 1989. Delphacidae of Taiwan II (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). NSC Special Publications 6: 1-334.