Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

Distribution: Holarctic, especially north.

Type species: Criomorphus albomarginatus Curtis, 1833

Recognized species

12 currently recognized species worldwide as follows (distribution records incomplete):

Criomorphus agnus Anufriev et al. 1988 - Mongolia
Criomorphus albomarginatus Curtis, 1833 - Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia (Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine.
Criomorphus borealis (Sahlberg, 1871) - Northern Europe, Russia, Mongolia
Criomorphus conspicuus Metcalf, 1932 - USA: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois
Criomorphus firmatus Emeljanov, 1977 - Mongolia
Criomorphus inconspicuus (Uhler, 1877) - USA: Colorado (New York?)
Criomorphus moestus (Boheman, 1847) - Europe, Russia
Criomorphus niger Ding and Zang, 1994 - China
Criomorphus nigerrimus Dlabola, 1965 - Mongolia
Criomorphus ovis Anufriev et al. 1988 - Russia
Criomorphus wilhelmi Anufriev & Averkin, 1982 - USA: Alaska; Canada: Yukon; Mongolia, Russia
Criomorphus williamsi China, 1939 - Great Britian, Russia

Economic Importance: Limited. In the New World, members of this genus are seldom encountered.

Host plants:

Mostly Grasses

Criomorphus albomarginatus : Festuca rubra, Deschampsia cespitosa, D. flexuosa, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Holcus spp. (Poaceae), Luzula spp. (Juncaceae)

Criomorphus borealis : Calamagrostis villosa, C. canescens

Criomorphus moestus : Calamagrostis canescens (but see Nickel 1993 - host record may be in error; reported also from mixed Carex, Phragmites, and Eriophorum vaginatum)

Criomorphus williamsi : Poa palustris, Poa trivialis; possibly Rumex

(Host records from Holzinger et al. 2003, Nickel 2003, and Wilson et al. 1994)

Recognition

Criomorphus inconspicuus (Uhler, 1877).  Note the paired carinae of the frons.

Molecular resources

At this time, neither Genbank or Bold have any molecular resources for this genus.

Selected references

Holzinger, W. E., I. Kammerlander, and H. Nickel. 2003 Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha excluding Cicadellidae. Volume 1. The Auchenorrhyncha of Central Europe. Brill Academic Publishing, Leiden, Netherlands.

Nickel, H. 2003. The Leafhoppers and Planthoppers of Germany (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha), Patterns and strategies in a highly diverse group of phytophagous insects , Pensoft Series Faunistica 28, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Wilson, S. W. 1988. Delphacidae of Alaska (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs 12: 335-343.

Wilson, S. W. 1992. The Delphacidae of Yukon Territory, Canada (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Insecta Mundi 6(2): 79-100.

Wilson, S. W. 1997. Delphacid planthoppers (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Delphacidae) of the Yukon. In: H. V. Danks and J. A. Downes (eds.). Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 377-385.

Wilson, S. W., C. Mitter, R. F. Denno, and M. R. Wilson. 1994. Evolutionary patterns of host plant use by delphacid planthoppers and their relatives. In: R. F. Denno and T. J. Perfect, (eds.). Planthoppers: Their Ecology and Management. Chapman and Hall, New York. Pp. 7-45 & Appendix [host information in the appendix].