Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

 

Distribution: Palearctic; one species reported in eastern Canada.

Type species (in original combination): Delphax sordidula Stål, 1853.

Recognized species (distribution information may be incomplete)

There are nine recognized species in the genus (divided into subgenera by Emeljanov, 1982):

Subgenus MegadelphaxWagner, 1963

Megadelphax amoena Logvinenko, 1977 - Russia (Georgia)
Megadelphax bidentatus Anufriev, 1970) - Russia (Maritime Territory); Canada: Labrador, Newfoundland, Ontario, Quebec
Megadelphax cornigera (Kusnezov, 1929) - Russia, Turkestan, Mongolia
Megadelphax haglundi (Sahlberg, 1871) - Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Moravia, Mongolia, Russia, Sweden,
Megadelphax kangauzi Anufriev, 1970 - Russia (Maritime Territory), Mongolia
Megadelphax sobrinus Dlabola, 1967 - Mongolia
Megadelphax sordidulus (Stål , 1853) - Widespread Europe, North Africa, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia
Megadelphax subsymmetrica Logvinenko, 1977 - Russia (Caucasus)

Subgenus Polytropa Emeljanov, 1982 (nec. Swainson 1840)

Megadelphax vilbastei Emeljanov, 1988 - Russia

Note: Megadelphax bidentatus was reported from Canada by Maw et al. (2000) in the genus Ribautodelphax.  This species was moved to to Megadelphax by Vilbaste (1980: 14), but has subsequently been treated (e.g., Anufriev and Emeljanov 1988) as Ribautodelphax.  I have not seen an explicit definitive statement on the placement of this species (offhand it looks to be Ribautodelphax).

Economic importance:

Megadelphax sordidulus is a vector of Phleum green stripe virus (PGSV)

 

Reported Hosts

Megadelphax sordidulus is reported from tall oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius), common oat (Avena satvia), timoth grass (Phleum pratense), wheat (Triticum sp.), and Meadow Foxtail  Alopecurus pratensis. (Host information from Wilson wt al. 1994, Holzinger et al. 2003, Söderman 2007)

 

Recognition

Keys to genus (and species) for Palearctic taxa can be found in Anufriev and Emeljanov (1988) and Holzinger et al. (2003) (the former illustrates more species).

Megadelphax sordidulus

 

Megadelphax bidentatus

Megadelphax cornigera

 

 

Molecular resources

At this time, neither Genbank or BOLD provides molecular data for this genus.  Urban et al. (2010) extracted 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I from Megadelphax sordidulus for their analyses.

 

Selected references

Anufriev, G. A. 1970. New east-Asiatic Delphacids from the genera Megadelphax Wagner and Ribautodelphax Wagner (Homoptera, Delphacidae. Bulletin de l’Academie Polonaise des Sciences cl. II. 18(3):141-146.

Anufriev, G. A. and A. F. Emeljanov. 1988. Volume II: Homoptera and Heteroptera. In: P.A. Lehr (ed.). Keys to the Insects of the Far East of the USSR in Six Volumes, Transliteration of the Russian title: Opredelitel’ nasekomykh Dal’nego Vostoka SSSR v shesti tomakh. Vol. 2. Ravnokrylye i poluzhestkokrylye. In: P.A. Lehr (ed.). Keys to the Insects of the Far East of the USSR in Six Volume. Nauka, Leningrad. [English translation]

Emeljanov, A. F. 1982 Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) collected in the Mongolian People's Republic by the entomofaunistical group of the Soviet Mongolian complex biological expedition in 1970-1975. Nasekomye Mongolii [Insects of Mongolia] 8: 69-122. [Russian]

Heikinheimo, O. and M. Raatikainen. 1976.  Megadelphax sordidula (Stal) (Homoptera), Delphacidae) as a vector of Phleum green stripe virus. Annales agriculturae Fenniae (1): 34-55.

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.

Maw, H.E.L., R. G. Foottit, K.G.A. Hamilton and G.G.E. Scudder. 2000. Checklist of the Hemiptera of Canada and Alaska. NRC Research Press, Ottawa.

Qin, D. Z., X. D. Chen, and Q. L. Men. 2009. A new record species of the genus Megadelphax Wagner and redescription of Eurybregma nigrolineata Scott (Hemiptera, Fulgoroidea, Delphacidae) from China. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 34: 654-658.

Raatikainen, M. 1970. Ecology and fluctuations in abundance of Megadelphax sordidulus (Stål) (Hom., Delphacidae). Annales Agricultura Fennici 9: 315-324.

Söderman, G. 2007. Taxonomy, distribution, biology and conservation status of Finnish Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha et Cicadomorpha). The Finnish Environment 7: 1-101.

Vilbaste, J. 1980. [Cicada fauna of Tuva. OR Homoptera Cicadinea of Tuva] [Fauna tsikadovykh Tuvy]. Valgus, Tallin, Estonia.

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 references in appendix].