Family Delphacidae Leech 1815

Subfamily Asiracinae Fieber, 1872

Tribe Asiracini Fieber, 1872

Distribution: New World, widespread but especially tropical.

Synonyms

   = Jerala Walker, 1858: 85 (type species Jerala singula Walker, 1858: 85); syn. by Stål, 1862: 488.

   = Holotus Guerin-Meneville, 1856: 180 (type species Holotus thoracicus Guerin-Meneville, 1856: 180); syn. by Stål, 1866: 175.

Type species (in original combination): Copicerus irroratus Swartz, 1802.

Recognized species

There are four species and one subspecies currently placed in this genus.

Copicerus insignicornis (Lethierry, 1890) - Venezuela

      = Asiraca insignicomis Lethierry, 1890.

      = Copicerus insignicornis (Lethierry, 1890); comb. by Crawford, 1914: 565.

Copicerus irroratus Swartz, 1802 - USA: FL, GA, IL, MS, MO, OH, TX; Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba; Ecuador, Guatemala, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.

      = Jerala singula Walker, 1858; syn. by. Stål, 1862: 488.

Copicerus irroratus thoracicus (Guerin-Meneville, 1856) - Cuba, Jamaica

      = Holotus thoracicus Guerin-Meneville, 1856[: 180]

      = Copicerus thoracicus (Guerin-Meneville, 1856); new comb. by Johnson and Fox 1892: 60.

      = Copicerus irroratus thoracicus (Guerin-Meneville, 1856); new comb. by Crawford, 1914: 564.

Copicerus obscurus (Guerin-Meneville, 1856) - Brazil

     = Holotus obscurus Guerin-Meneville, 1856: 181 (see also Guerin-Meneville 1857: 430).

     = Copicerus obscurus (Guerin-Meneville, 1856); comb. by Muir, 1926: 7.

Copicerus swartzi Stal, 1857 - Brazil

Hosts: Unknown, but probably dicots.

Economic Importance: Limited. C. insignicornis, C. obscurus and C. swartzi are unknown, except for type material.  Copicerus irroratus is only rarely found in numbers (usually they are found one, or few, at a time).

Recognition

Copicerus is a highly distinctive genus among the New World fauna (possibly confused for the Old World genus Asiraca).  Asche, 1985 illustrated the genitalia assumed to be of Copicerus irroratus from Cuba.

Here are images of Copicerus irroratus from Mexico.  The image of the nymph is a specimen from Cuba (photo taken by Jacek Szwedo from the MIZ PAN collection)

Live images - Here are some images of live Copicerus from Nicaragua, courtesy of Stephen Cresswell (http://www.americaninsects.net)

Websites

There are nice images of Copicerus on Bugguide.  Copicerus is here on Discover Life, and here on American Insects.  And very nice photos by Gernot Knuz.

Molecular resources

There are data for Copicerus sp. and Copicerus irroratus on Genbank. On BOLD there are data for several species (some tentatively identified). 

Selected references

Barringer, L.E. And C.R. Bartlett. 2011. A review of New World Asiracinae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Delphacidae) with five new taxa. Cicadina 12: 7-39.

Crawford, D. L. 1914a. A contribution toward a monograph of the homopterous insects of the family Delphacidae of North and South America. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 46:557-640, plus 6 plates.  [Copicerus thoracicus to subspecies of C. irroratus]

Fowler, W. E. 1905a. Order Rhynchota. Suborder Hemiptera-Homoptera (Continued). Biologia Centrali-Americana; or contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America 1: 125-139. [Copicerus = Holotus]

Guerin-Meneville, F. E. 1856a. Segunda seccion. Homopteros. In: de la Sagra, R. Historia fisica, politica y natural de la Isla de Cuba. Crustaceos, aragnides, e insectos. Paris, vol. 7. Pp.1-868 [see 178-182].

Johnson, C. W. and W. J. Fox. 1892a. List of Hemiptera collected in Jamaica, W. I. Entomological News 3:59-60.

Lethierry, L. F. 1890. Voyage de M. E. Simon au Venezuela (decembre 1887-avril 1888), 9e. memoire Hemipteres Homopteres. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France (6)10: 147-160. [Holotus with 2 species described; to Copicerus by Fowler 1905]

Muir, F. A. G. 1926. Contributions to our knowledge of South American Fulgoroidea (Homoptera). Part I. The family Delphacidae. Bulletin. Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experiment Station. Division of Entomology 18: 1-51.

Stål, C. 1857a. Ny art af Copicerus (Swartz). Ofversigt af Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forhandlingar 14: 53.

Stål, C. 1857b. Description du genre Copicerus Swartz. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France (3) 5:3 37-339.

Stål, C. 1862b. Synonymiska och systematiska anteckningar öfver Hemiptera. Öfversigt af Kongliga   Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar 19: 479-504. [Copicerus irroratus Swartz = Jerala singula Walker]

Stål, C. 1866. Hemiptera Homoptera Latr. Hemiptera Africana 4: 1-276.

Swartz, O. 1802a. Copicerus, et nytt slagte bland insecterne fran Westindien. Nya Handlingar. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens. 23:177-183.

Walker, F. 1858b. Supplement. List of the specimens of Homopterous Insects in the collection of the British Museum 1858: 1-307. [Jerala singula Walker, 1958 described]