Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae 

Tribe Tropidocephalini

Distribution: South America and southern India

Type species (in original combination): Columbisoga campbelli Muir, 1921.

This genus is divided into two subgenera, with most species in the nomative subgenus by implication.

Subgenus Columbisoga Muir, 1921 (Type species Columbisoga campbelli Muir, 1921).

Subgenus Columbisodes Fennah, 1963 (Type species Columbisoga (Columbisodes) saracura Fennah, 1963).

Recognized species

There are 13 species in this genus as follows:

Subgenus Columbisoga

Columbisoga campbelli Muir, 1921 - South India
Columbisoga chusqueae Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga filistylus Muir, 1930 - Bolivia
Columbisoga gynerii Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga gyneriicola Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga maculosa Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga merae Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga ornata Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga sacchari Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga tenae Muir, 1926 - Ecuador
Columbisoga tylotus Fennah, 1943 - Brazil
Columbisoga zapote Muir, 1926 - Ecuador

Subgenus Columbisodes

Columbisoga saracura Fennah, 1943 - Brazil

Hosts:

Columbisoga are mostly bamboo feeders (Poaceae: Bambusoideae).

Columbisoga chusqueae - Chusquea sp.(Poaceae: Bambusoideae)

Columbisoga gynerii - Gynerium sagittatum (Aubl.) P. Beauv.(Poaceae: Gynerieae)

Columbisoga gyneriicola - Chusquea sp.(Poaceae: Bambusoideae)

Columbisoga ornata - Gynerium sp.(Poaceae: Gynerieae)

Columbisoga zapote - Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen (as Lucuma mammosa C.F. Gaertn.)(Sapotaceae)

Names of plants from USDA PLANTS database,

Host data from Muir (1926) as reported by Bartlett (2010).

Economic Importance: Limited.

Recognition

This genus is a heterogenous group of taxa.  The New World taxa are probably not monophyletic with each other or with the type species from South India.   As New Species are described, it will likely be broken into new genera.  Key to genus for New World taxa is found in Bartlett (2010).  Most taxa were described by Muir (1926).

Species of Columbisoga often come to lights.  I have examined large series of specimens, mostly undescribed.

Columbisoga cf filistylus (Peru)

Columbisoga gyneriicola (Paratype, Napo, Ecuador)

Below are 3 undescribed Columbisoga from Peru.

Below are line drawings of the various species from the original source.

Molecular resources

There are no data on this genus in BOLD.  Genbank has 4 genes for Columbisoga tenae from Urban et al. (2010) here.

Selected references

Bartlett, C. R. 2010 (dated 2009). A new genus of new world Tropidocephalini (Hemiptera: Delphacidae: Delphacinae), with the description of two new species. Entomological News 120(4): 387-396.

Fennah, R. G. 1963. New Delphacidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) from South America and West Africa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 13(6):689-700.

Muir, F.A.G. 1921b. On some Delphacidae from South India (Homoptera). Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society. 4:480-486.

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.

Muir, F.A.G. 1930f. On some South American Delphacidae (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea). Entomologisk Tidskrift 51(3-4): 207-215.