Family Delphacidae

Subfamily Delphacinae

Tribe Delphacini

Distribution: Palearctic, with Unkanodes excisa reported from Alaska.

Type species (in original combination): Unkana sapporona Matsumura 1935.

Generic synonyms

  Elymodelphax Wagner, 1963: 167 (type Liburnia excisa Melichar, 1898); Synonymy made by Dlabola 1965:86.
  Chilodelphax Vilbaste, 1968: 26 (subgenus; type species Unkanodes (C.) silvatica Vilbaste, 1968: 26). (status revised to genus by Kwon (1982).
  Uncanodes Fennah, 1956; Missp. By Dlabola, 1965: 86.

Subgenera

Anufriev (1968) described Chilodelphax as a subgenus of Unkanodes, which has since been elevated to a genus by Kwon (1982).  Anufriev (in Anufriev and Emeljanov 1988) described Kwonianella (type species Liburnia albifascia Matsumura, 1900) as a subgenus of Unkanodes with three species.  Other species have been explicitly or implicitly placed in the subgenus Unkanodes.

Recognized species

This genus is represented by 8 species (distribution information is incomplete; contributions - particularly with literature references - appreciated).

Subgenus Unkanodes Fennah, 1956

Unkanodes excisa (Melichar, 1898) - USA: Alaska; Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Russia (Kurile Is.), Ukraine (note Coastal regions, Holzinger et al. 2003).
Unkanodes latespinosa (Dlabola, 1957) Afghanistan, Mongolia, Turkey (Anatolia).
Unkanodes paramarginata (Dlabola, 1961) - Russia (Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan).
Unkanodes sapporona (Matsumura, 1935) - China (Shansi), Japan (Hokkaido, Kysuhu), Korea, Russia (Maritime Territory), Taiwan, India, Bangladesh. 
Unkanodes tanasijevici (Dlabola, 1965) - "Yugoslavia", Iran.

Subgenus Kwonianella Anufriev, 1988

Unkanodes albifascia (Matsumura, 1900) - Japan (Honshu), Russia (Maritime Territory)

Unkanodes insularis Anufriev, 1988 - Russia

Unkanodes sympaticus Anufriev, 1988 - Russia

Ding (2006) treats Ribautodelphax notabilis Logvinenko, 1970 as a valid species, but I have it as a synonym of Unkanodes tanasijevici (Dlabola, 1965) based on Nast (1987).

Economic importance: 

Unkanodes albifascia - Vector of northern cereal mosaic virus (NCMV), stripe disease and rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV). As well as rice, Mochida and Okada (1971) list a wide range of grass hosts.

Unkanodes sapporona is a vector of Northern cereal mosaic virus (NCMV), Rice stripe tenuivirus (RSV), and Rice black-streaked dwarf fijivirus (RBSDV).  This species is being increasingly investigated as a pest species. See also

Leafhopper, Planthopper & Psyllid vectors of plant disease. 

Unkanodes tanasijevici (including Ribautodelphax notabilis Logvinenko, 1970) is a vector of Iranian maize mosaic (?) nucleorhabdovirus (IMMV; = Maize Iranian mosaic virus (MIMV), Maize rough dwarf fijivirus  (MRDV), Rice black-streaked dwarf fijivirus (RBSDV).  See also

Leafhopper, Planthopper & Psyllid vectors of plant disease. 

Host plants:

Unkanodes albifascia - Rice (and other grasses)

Unkanodes excisa - Leymus arenarius (L.) Hochst. (sand ryegrass; as Elymus arenarius L.).

Unkanodes sapporona - Rice; Arundinella hirta (Thunb.) Koidz. Arundinella sp., Imperata sp. (satintail), Imperata cylindrica (L.) P. Beauv. (cogongrass), Ischaemum anthephoroides (Steud.) Miq., Miscanthus sinensis Andersson (Chinese silvergrass); Zea mays L. (corn, maize).

Unkanodes tanasijevici- wheat

Plant names primarily according to The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov) (GRIN when not in PLANTS, internet search when both fail).

Sources of host information Wilson et al. (1994), Holzinger et al. (2003), Nickel (2003), Ding (2006).

Recognition

Similar to Ribautodelphax, including shape of parameres, but the processes of segment 10 do not cross.

Unkanodes sapporona

Unkanodes tanasijevici - male

Unkanodes tanasijevici - female

Molecular resources:

Genbank has no data for this genus. BOLD provides barcode data for Unkanodes tanasijevici.  Urban et al. (2010) sequenced 4 genetic loci (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I) for an undetermined Unkanodes species in their analyses. 

Selected References

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.

Ding, J. H. 2006. Fauna Sinica Insecta Vol. 45 Homoptera Delphacidae. Science Press, Beijing, China.

Dlabola, J. 1981. Ergebnisse der Tschechoslowakisch-Iranischen Entomologischen Expeditionen nach dem Iran (1970 und 1973). (Mit Angaben uber einiger Sammelresultate in Anatolien) Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha (2. Teil). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 40: 127-311.

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 [In Russian].

Fennah, R .G. 1956. Fulgoroidea from southern China. Proceedings of the California Academy of Science 28(13): 441-527.

Heydarnejad, J. J.,W. S. Barclay, K. K. Izadpanah, F. R. Hunter, and M. J. Gooding. 2006. Molecular characterization of Iranian wheat stripe virus shows its taxonomic position as a distinct species in the genus Tenuivirus. Archives of Virology 151: 217–227. [Re: vector Unkanodes tanasijevici]

Heydarnejad, J. J., K. K. Izadpanah, F. R. Hunter, and M. J. Gooding. 2007. Transmission properties of Iranian Wheat Stripe Virus. Australasian Plant Pathology 36(4): 354-357. [Re: vector Unkanodes tanasijevici]

Heydarnejad, J. J. and K. K. Izadpanah. 1992. Isolation and partial characterization of a Tenuivirus from wheat in Iran. Journal of Phytopathology 136(4): 279-287. [Re: vector Unkanodes tanasijevici]

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.

Kuznetsova, V. G. 1982. A chromosomal study of the leafhopper family Delphacidae Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 61(2): 239-244 [in Russian, translated in Entomological Review 1982. 61(2): 17-23].

Kwon, Y. J. 1982. New and little known planthoppers of the family Delphacidae (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Korean Journal of Entomology 12(1): 1-11

Mitjaev I. D. 1975. New species of Cicadinea (Homoptera) from Kazakhstan. Entomological Review 54(3): 67-72.

Mochida, O. and T. Okada. 1971. A list of the Delphacidae (Homoptera) in Japan with special reference to host plants, transmissian of plant diseases, and natural enemies. Bulletin of the Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Station 15: 737-843.

Nast, J., 1987. The Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera) of Europe. Annales Zoologici 40(15): 535-661.

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.

Shinkai, A. 1966. Transmission of rice black-streaked dwarf virus, rice stripe virus and northern cereal mosaic virus by the planthopper, Unkanodes sapporonus Matsumura. Annals of the Phytopathological Society of Japan 32: 317

Tomokuni, M. and M. Hayashi. 2006. Hemiptera (Insecta) in the coastal areas on the Sagami sea, Central Japan. Memoirs of the National Science Museum, Tokyo 42: 285-309.

Vilbaste, J. 1971. Eesti Tirdid Homoptera: Cicadinea I. Eesti NSV Teaduste Akadeemia Zooloogia ja Botaanika Institute, Kirjastus. [Cicadiidae of Estonia. Homoptera: Cicadinea, Tettigometridae, Cixiidae, Delphacidae, Achilidae, Issidae, Cicadidae, Aphrophoridae, Membracidae.] Valgus, Tallin, Estonia.

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

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].