Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

 

Distribution: Widespread, but most species in Old World tropics.

Type species (in original combination): Toya attenuata Distant, 1906.

Generic Synonyms

  Himeunka Matsumura and Ishihara 1945 (Type species Unkana tateyamaella Matsumura, 1945 in Matsumura and Ishihara 1945): Synonymy made by Anufriev 1977: 865. Removed from synonymy by Kuoh et al. 1981: 190.

  Metadelphax Wagner, 1963 (type species Delphax propinqua Fieber, 1866): Synonymy made by Fennah 1964: 142 (by implication; type species moved to Toya); Nast 1972: 65, Linnavuori 1973: 107 (generic synonymy listed). Removed from synonymy by Ding 2006: 511.  See also Gonzon and Bartlett 2008)

 

Recognized species

41 currently recognized species worldwide, and one nomen dubium, as follows:

New World

1 Toya boxi (Muir and Giffard, 1924) - USA: Florida: British Guiana, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago

2 Toya dietrichi Gonzon and Bartlett, 2008 - Mexico (Colima)

3 Toya goliai Gonzon and Bartlett, 2008 - USA: Florida

4 Toya idonea (Beamer, 1947) - USA: Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina; Bahamas (South Bimini, Great Inagua), Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Cayman Islands, Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

5 Toya nigra (Crawford, 1914) - USA: FL; Argentina, Bahamas (Cat, Exuma Cays, Long); Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Cayman Islands, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Guadaloupe, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela

6 Toya recurva Gonzon and Bartlett, 2008 - Mexico (Veracruz)

7 Toya venilia (Fennah, 1959) - Bahama Islands (Andros, Abaco Cay, Great Inagua); British Virgin Islands (Guana, Necker, Anegada, Beef, Great Camanoe, Great Dog, Great Thatch, Jost van Dyke, Tortola, Virgin Gorda); US Virgin Islands (St. John); Montserrat, Puerto Rico (incl. Muertos Is., Vieques Is.), Turks and Caicos Islands

 

nomen dubium

Toya iaxartes (Fennah, 1959) - St. Lucia (see Gonzon and Bartlett 2008)

Old World

1 Toya attenuata Distant, 1906 - Sri Lanka, Taiwan, China
2 Toya beninu Fennah, 1975 - Sri Lanka

3 Toya bridwelli (Muir, 1920) - Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Ivory Coast, China, Taiwan, Thailand
4 Toya canidia Fennah, 1969 - Sudan
5 Toya ceresensis (Muir, 1929) - South Africa, Cape Verde Is., Sudan, Nigeria, Ivory Coast
6 Toya complexa (Muir, 1929) - South Africa, Natal, Uganda, Ethiopia
7 Toya cularo Fennah, 1975 - Sri Lanka
8 Toya demophoon Fennah, 1964 - Cameroon, Ethiopia (as Abyssinia), Nigeria
9 Toya dryope (Kirkaldy, 1907) - Australia, Samoa, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Loyalty Island
10 Toya fusca Melichar, 1914 - Indonesia (Java)
11 Toya hessei (Muir, 1929) - South Africa, French Guinea
12 Toya hispidula (Lindberg, 1954) - Canary Island, Egypt, Madeira Archipelago, Morocco, Sudan
13 Toya ibiturca Asche, 1980 - Turkey, France
14 Toya larymna Fennah, 1975 - Sri Lanka
15 Toya lazulis (Kirkaldy, 1907) - Australia (Queensland)
16 Toya mahensis (Distant, 1917) - Seychelles (Indian Ocean), Mauritius, Ghana
17 Toya mamurra Fennah, 1969 - Ethiopia (as Abyssinia)
18 Toya mandonius Fennah, 1969 - Sudan
19 Toya mastanabal Fennah, 1969 - Ethiopia (as Abyssinia)
20 Toya menedemus Fennah, 1969 - Sudan
21 Toya minutula (Melichar, 1903) - Sri Lanka
22 Toya narcissus Fennah, 1969 - Sudan
23 Toya obtusangula (Linnavuori, 1957) - Cyprus, Israel, Italy, Egypt
24 Toya peruda Fennah, 1975 - Sri Lanka
25 Toya salambo Fennah, 1964 - Madagascar
26 Toya siaka Fennah, 1975 - Sri Lanka
27 Toya simulans (Dlabola, 1958) - Russia (Georgia), Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan, Ukraine
28 Toya suezensis (Matsumura, 1910) Azores, Canary Is., Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Madeira Archipelago, Morocco, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Turkey
29 Toya superba (Emeljanov, 1964) - Kazakhstan

30 Toya terryi (Muir, 1917) - Taiwan, China

Note: Toya terryi (Muir) was synonymized with T. tuberculosa (Distant) by Fennah 1975: 117, however; Ding (2006: 506) reinstates T. terryi as a senior synonym of Sogatella fulva Yang 1989, S. lima Yang 1989, and “Toya tuberculosa Fennah (nec Distant 1916)”)

31 Toya thomasseti (Muir, 1925) - Rodriguez Islands (Indian Ocean)
32 Toya tricolorata (Dlabola, 1961) - Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan
33 Toya tuberculosa (Distant, 1916) - Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia (Java), Vietnam, South Africa, St. Helena, Sudan
34 Toya yanoi (Ishihara, 1952) - Japan (Shikoku)

" Toya sp." Jayanthi and Baskaran 1989, 1990; Described, but not named, by Jayanthi and Baskaran 1989, 1990 on Urochloa mutica (Forssk.) T.Q. Nguyen (as Brachiaria mutica) (Poaceae). Not clearly attributable to a named species.

 

Note: Some references such as Harder and Bakker (1973) and Abo and Sy (1997) list Delphacodes catilina Fennah, 1958 as a Toya, but I have not found where this species may have been transferred.

Recorded hosts

Reported hosts are mostly grasses.

Toya ibiturca - Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (Bermudagrass)

Toya obtusangula - Cynodon dactylon

Toya tuberculosa - Panicum repens L. (torpedo grass); Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.

Toya venilia - Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kunth (seashore dropseed)

Toya dryope - Carrot (Daucus carota L., Apiaceae)

Toya sp. - Urochloa mutica (Forssk.) T.Q. Nguyen (as Brachiaria mutica) (Para grass; Poaceae).

Plant names according to the PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov)

Economic importance

Toya species are potentially of economic importance.  Unspecified Toya species are reported on rice, although evidently not an important component of the rice planthopper fauna (specimens reported at Toya spp. could also be Metadelphax propinqua). Three Toya species reported from bermudagrass.

Greber (1981) listed Toya sp as a vector of maize stripe tenuivirus.

"Toya catilina" was given as the vector of African Cereal Streak (ACSV) (Harder and Baker 1973, Abo and Sy 1997), which appears to be a synonym of Maize streak monogeminivirus (MSV), although delphacids are not given as a vector of that disease.

 

Recognition

A difficult genus in many respects.  The genera and species are best separated by features of the male genitalia.  Females generally can not be identified with confidence, even to genus.  New World species were recently revised by Gonzon and Bartlett (2008).  Very similar to Metadelphax, Harmalia, and Syndelphax in particular.  All of these genera share several similarities including small and usually pale (straw) colored (interestingly, the type species, Toya attenuata, is dark-colored along with Toya nigra).  All three of these genera also have an expanded dorsocaudal region of the pygofer.  In Toya, the apex of the dorsal expansion of the pygofer is inflected medially (this is not true of Syndelphax), and the diaphragm armature is wider than tall (taller than wide in Metadelphax, Harmalia, and Syndelphax).  Metadelphax probably should be considered a subgenus of Toya, but as noted by Gonzon and Bartlett (2008), the 34 Old World Toya should first be investigated to define Toya in the strict sense and define subgenera among the remaining species.

 

Toya attenuata - Lectotype

Toya attenuata - brachypter from Sri Lanka

Plate of Toya attenuata from Gonzon and Bartlett (2008) is here.

 

 

Toya boxi - photos of type specimen

Toya boxi - photos of non-type specimens

Plate of Toya boxi from Gonzon and Bartlett (2008) is here.

 

Toya bridwelli

 

Toya dietrichi

Plate of Toya dietrichi from Gonzon and Bartlett (2008) is here.

Toya dryope

 

Toya goliai - Holotype

Plate of Toya goliai from Gonzon and Bartlett (2008) is here.

 

Toya idonea

 

Plate of Toya idonea from Gonzon and Bartlett (2008) is here.

 

Toya nigra - Holotype

Toya nigra - non-type photos - male macropter

Toya nigra - female brachypter

Plate of Toya nigra from Gonzon and Bartlett (2008) is here.

 

Toya recurva

Plate of Toya recurva from Gonzon and Bartlett (2008) is here.

 

Toya venilia

 

Toya iaxartes (nomen dubium) - holotype

 

 

Molecular resources

Molecular resources for Toya appear quite limited. As of this writing, BOLD lists barcode data for lists barcode data for 7 Toya specimens, but these are not public. Genbank has not data for Toya. Urban et al. (2010) sequenced 4 genes for Toya bridwelli (18s, 28s, CO1, WG).

 

Selected references

Abo, M. E. and Sy, A. A. 1997. Rice Virus Diseases: Epidemiology and Management Strategies. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 11(2): 113-134.

Asche, M. 1980. Zwei neue Arten der Gattung Toya Distant 1906, aus dem Mittelmeergebiet mit erganzenden Bemerkungen zu Toya hispidula (Lindberg 1953) und Toya obtusangula (Linnavuori 1957) (Homoptera Cicadina Delphacidae). Marburger Entomologische Publikationen 1(4): 1-36.

Ballou, J. K., J. H. Tsai and S. W. Wilson. 1987. Delphacid planthoppers Sogatella kolophon and Delphacodes idonea (Homoptera: Delphacidae): Descriptions of immature stages and notes on biology. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 80(2): 312-319.

Baskaran, P., M. Jayanthi, and G. Shankar. 1988. Toya spp.planthopper incidence on Brachiaria mutica. International Rice Research Newsletter 13(3): 41-42.

Chen, X. S., Z. Z. Li, and S. N. Jiang. 2000. Taxonomic study on nymphs of Delphacidae (Homoptera:Fulgoroidea) from China I Paranectopia, Himeunka and Toya. Journal of Mountain Agriculture and Biology 19(1): 21-24,42.

Fennah, R. G. 1959. Delphacidae from the Lesser Antilles (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 8: 245-265

Fennah, R. G. 1964. Delphacidae from Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 116(7): 131-150.

Fennah, R. G. 1965. New Species of Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from the West Indies. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 117(4): 95-126.

Fennah, R. G. 1969. Delphacidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) from the Sudan Republic. Acta Entomologica Fennica 26:1-78.

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.

Greber R. S. 1981. Maize stripe disease in Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 32: 27–36.

Harder, D. E. and W. Bakker. 1973. African Cereal Streak, a new disease of cereals in East Africa. Phytopathology 63: 1407-1411

Jayanthi, M. and P. Baskaran. 1989. Morphology of a new delphacid, Toya, sp. Bulletin of Entomology 30(2): 156-160.

Jayanthi, M. and P. Baskaran. 1990. Biology of Toya sp. on watergrass Brachiaria mutica Staff. Bulletin of Entomology 31(1): 95-98.