Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

 

Distribution: Widespread in Holarctic and Neotropical regions; most species in the Nearctic.

Type species (in original combination):  Delphax notula Germar, 1830.

Recognized species

29 species are recognized in this genus as follows:

New World

1 Megamelus aestus Metcalf, 1923 - USA: North Carolina, New Hampshire; Canada: Ontario, Quebec
2 Megamelus bellicus Remes Lenicov and Sosa, 2007 - Argentina, Brazil, Peru
3 Megamelus bifidus Beamer, 1955 - USA: Kansas, New York; Canada: Ontario
4 Megamelus bifurcatus Crawford, 1914 - Brazil
5 Megamelus cornus Beamer, 1955 - USA: Texas
6 Megamelus davisi Van Duzee, 1897 - USA: District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee; also Hawaii, (introduced) 
7 Megamelus distinctus Metcalf, 1923 -USA: Connecticut, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York; Canada: Ontario, Saskatchewan
8 Megamelus electrae Muir, 1926 - Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago
9 Megamelus falcatus Beamer, 1955 - USA: Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York
10 Megamelus flavus Crawford, 1914 - USA: Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming; Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories (Nunavut), Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon; Mongolia, Russia (Kamchatka Region, Khabarovsk Territory, Sakhalin Region, Kurile Islands)
11 Megamelus gracilis Beamer, 1955 - USA: Florida
12 Megamelus hamatus Beamer, 1955 - USA: Maryland, Virginia
13 Megamelus inflatus Metcalf, 1923 - USA: New York
14 Megamelus iphigeniae Muir, 1926 - Argentina, Brazil, Panama (Canal Zone)
15 Megamelus lobatus Beamer, 1955 USA: Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Texas
16 Megamelus longicornis (Dozier, 1922) - USA: Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
17 Megamelus lunatus Beamer, 1955 - USA: Illinois, Kansas, New York; Canada: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec
18 Megamelus metzaria Crawford, 1914 - USA: Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Wyoming; Canada: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec
19 Megamelus palaetus (Van Duzee, 1897) - USA: Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Texas
20 Megamelus recurvatus Beamer, 1955 - Canada: Manitoba, Ontario
21 Megamelus scutellaris Berg, 1883 - Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay (candidate for introduction into Florida for biocontrol of water hyacinth)
22 Megamelus timehri Muir, 1919 - Argentina, Guyana
23 Megamelus toddi Beamer, 1955 - USA: Louisiana
24 Megamelus trifidus Beamer, 1955 - USA: Florida
25 Megamelus ungulatus Beamer, 1955 - USA: Connecticut, North Carolina

 

Old World (see also Megamelus flavus above)

Palearctic

1Megamelus discrepans Haupt, 1930 - Italy

2 Megamelus leptus Fieber, 1878 - Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy

3 Megamelus notula (Germar, 1830) - Widespread: Europe, Russia, Japan (Honshu), Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Ukraine

Australia

1 Megamelus leimonias (Kirkaldy, 1907) - Australia: Queensland

Hosts:

Species of this genus are associated with aquatic and semiaquatic plants in various families.

Megamelus bellicus - Pontederia cordata, P. rotundifolia, Eichhornia crassipes, E. azurea (Pontederiaceae); Echinodorus grandiflorum (Alismathaceae) and L. laevigatum (Hydrocharitaceae).

Megamelus capnodes - Carex riparia (Cyperaceae)

Megamelus davisi - water lily (Nymphaea spp.), American white water lily ( Nymphaea odorata Aiton as Castalia odorata); pond lily (Nuphar advena; Nymphaeaceae); Pontederia cordata (Pontederiaceae); alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides: Amaranthaceae)

Megamelus electrae - Eichhornia azurea

Megamelus iphigeniae - Eichhornia azurea, Eichhornia crassipes, Pontederia parviflora

Megamelus lobatus - Spartina patens (Poaceae Eragrostideae Chloridoideae)

Megamelus metzaria - Spartina pectinata (Poaceae Eragrostideae Chloridoideae)

Megamelus notula - Carex spp. (C. acutiformis, C. acuta, C. rostrata, C. nigra, C. disticha, etc.), Juncus spp., Carex lasiocarpa Ehrh. (woollyfruit sedge), Carex riparia Curtis.

Megamelus paleatus - Eichornia crassipes; Pontederia cordata L (Pontederiaceae); broadleaf arrowhead - Sagittaria latifolia (Alismataceae), Paspalum sp. (Poaceae); Jatropha integerrima; Euphorbiaceae; Laurel;

Megamelus scutellaris, M. electrae - water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae)

Megamelus timehri - Limnobium laevigatum (Hydrocharitaceae)

(Host information compiled from Wilson et al. 1994, Holzinger et al. 2003, Sosa et al. 2007)

Economic Importance:

Megamelus scutellaris is being used as a biocontrol agent of water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes Mart. (Solms) (Pontederiales: Pontederiaceae) (USEPA 2010).

Megamelus davisi has been inadvertently introduced into Hawaii.

 

Recognition

See Beamer (1955) for identification of North American species; Sosa et al. (2007) for Neotropical species.  I am aware of at least 1 undescribed

Central American species.

Key from Beamer (1955) (someday I'll type and update it)

Megamelus distinctus - male

Female

 

Megamelus davisi - male

Megamelus davisi female

 

Megamelus distinctus (I have photos of a second specimen that is considerably darker)

 

Megamelus flavus

Megamelus lobatus - male

Megamelus lobatus - female

Megamelus metzaria - male

Megamelus metzaria - female

 

Megamelus notula

Megamelus paleatus (A common species at lights in the SE USA).

 

Plates and captions from Beamer (1955)

Molecular resources: 

At this time, Genbank provides some sequence data for Megamelus distinctus and M. notula (here). BOLD provides barcode data for "Megamelus uncus" (a junior synonym of Megamelus flavus) (here). Urban et al. (2010) provided 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I of M. notula and a Megamelus sp. for their analyses.

 

References

Au, S. H. 1941. Megamelus davisi infesting water lily in Hawaii. Journal of Economic Entomology 34:415.

Beamer, R.H. 1955. A revision of the genus Megamelus in America north of Mexico (Homoptera, Fulgoridae, Delphacinae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 28(1): 29-46.

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. [Host information for M. notula]

Mariani, R., A. Sosa and A.M. M. de Remes Lenicov. 2007. Megamelus bellicus (Hemiptera: Delphacidae): immature stages and biology. Revista de la Sociedad Entomologica Argentina 66 (3-4): 189-196.

Scudder, G.G.E. 1964. Studies on the Canadian and Alaskan Fulgoromorpha (Hemiptera). II. The genus Megamelus Fieber (Delphacidae). Canadian Entomologist 96(6):813-820.

Sosa, A.J. , A.M. Marino de Remes Lenicov, R. Mariani, and H.A. Cordo. 2005. Life History of Megamelus scutellaris with Description of Immature Stages (Hemiptera: Delphacidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98(1): 66-72.

Sosa, A. J., H. A. Cordo, and J. Sacco. 2007. Preliminary evaluation of Megamelus scutellaris Berg (Hemiptera:
Delphacidae), a candidate for biological control of waterhyacinth. Biological Control 42: 129–138.

Sosa, A.J., A.M.M. de Remes Lenicov, and R. Mariani. 2007. Species of Megamelus (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) Associated with Pontederiaceae in South America. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 100(6): 798-809.

Sosa, A.J., A.M.M. de Remes Lenicov, R. Mariani, and H.A. Cordo 2004. Redescription of Megamelus scutellaris Berg (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), a candidate for biological control of water hyacinth. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 97(2): 271-275.

Tipping, P.W., T.D. Center, A.J. Sosa, and F.A. Dray. 2010. Host specificity assessment and potential impact of Megamelus scutellaris (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) on waterhyacinth Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiales: Pontederiaceae). Biocontrol Science and Technology 21(1): 75-87.

USDA. 2010. Field Release of Megamelus scutellaris, Berg (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), for Biological Control of Water Hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes Mart. (Solms) (Pontederiales: Pontederiaceae) in the Continental United States. Environmental Assessment, July 2009. Riverdale, MD. 23 pp. + indices.

Wilson, S.W. and J.E. McPherson. 1979. The first record of Megamelus palaetus in Illinois (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Delphacidae). Great Lakes Entomologist 12(4): 227.

Wilson, S.W. and J.E. McPherson. 1981. Life history of Megamelus davisi with descriptions of immature stages. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 74(4): 345-350.

Wilson, S.W. and J.E. McPherson. 1981. Ontogeny of the tibial spur in Megamelus davisi (Homoptera: Delphacidae) and its bearing on delphacid classification. Great Lakes Entomologist 14(1): 49-50.

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].