North American Acanaloniidae
- Phylogenetics
- Family Identification
- Important Collections
- Acanaloniidae
- Achilidae
- Caliscelidae
- Cixiidae
- Delphacidae
- Derbidae
- Dictyopharidae
- Flatidae
- Fulgoridae
- Issidae
- Kinnaridae
- Nogodinidae
- Tropiduchidae
Acanalonia conica (Photo by Doug Tallamy, University of Delaware)
Acanaloniidae is a small family, consisting at the time of Metcalf (1954) of 13 genera and 81 species, all but 9 of which were New World. Fennah (1954) subsumed Acanaloniidae into Issidae, and moved Euthiscia into Acanaloniinae. The familial status of Acanaloniidae was reestablished by Emeljanov (1999), but he included the Old World Trienopinae and Tonginae out of Issidae (Following the suggestions of Muir 1930 & Fennah 1954). Since that time, Tonginae has been transferred to Nogodinidae and Trienopinae to Tropiduchidae (Gnezdilov 2007, 2008), giving Acanaloniidae once again a composition similar to that at the time of Metcalf (1954). Worldwide, Acanaloniidae consist of 14 genera and 82 species (Bourgoin 2012).
Acanaloniidae north of Mexico consist of 2 genera and 20 species (all in Acanaloniinae, Acanaloniini). Acanalonia is widespread and consists of 19 species north of Mexico, Euthiscia includes a single species north of Mexico known from California and Arizona.
The genera north of Mexico can be recognized as follows:
1. Brown; vertex strongly anteriorly projecting; claval suture reaching to apical margin; uncommon, southwestern ................................................................................................ Euthiscia Van Duzee, 1923
1’. Green (rarely pink); vertex usually truncate or rounded (in the U.S. except A. conica); claval suture usually not reaching apical margin; common and widespread ..........................................Acanalonia Spinola, 1839
Acanalonia bivittata (left) and Euthiscia tuberculata (right). (Photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, Department of Entomology ,University of Delaware).
Acanaloniidae is most diverse in the southwest, with a few widespread species distributed elsewhere. The family is apparently absent from the northwest.
Distribution of U.S. Acanaloniidae (From Bartlett et al. in review)
Acanaloniidae in North America can be recognized by having broad wings with irregular reticulate venation, carried parallel to the body in repose, and lacking the parallel crossveins in the costal area and claval wax pustules of flatids. The second hind tarsomere bears a pair of spines, a feature found in all higher Fulgoroidea, including Flatidae and Issidae, the families most similar to Acanaloniidae. Acanaloniids lack lateral spines on the hind tibiae found in Issidae and Gaetuliini (Tropiduchidae).
Hind leg of Acanalonia conica showing absence of lateral spines
Keys to species for Acanalonia can be found in Doering (1932) and Freund & Wilson (1995). A single species of Euthiscia is found in the U.S.
Acanalonia conica is adventive in Europe (D’Urso & Uliana 2004, 2006). Acanalonia excavata was recently adventive into southern Florida, evidently from Nicaragua (Halbert 1997, 2000; Halbert et al. 2007). The life history of Acanalonia conica and A. bivittata were described by Wilson & McPherson (1981b), host plants and immatures of A. pumila were described by Wheeler & Hoebeke (1982). Acanaloniids are feeders on woody and semi-woody plants, with both adults and nymphs on above-ground portions of plants and a single generation per year in the studied species. The male and female anatomy of U.S. species was described by Freund & Wilson (1995).
Aside from Acanalonia and Euthiscia, two additional genera that can be found in the New World include (Distribution from Metcalf 1954):
Batusa Melichar, 1901 (Type species Acanalonia producta Stål, 1864)
Batusa agilis Melichar, 1901 - Puerto Rico (inc. subspp. maricensis Caldwell & Martorell 1951)
Batusa conata Melichar, 1901 - Brazil
Batusa pinniformis (Fowler, 1900) - Mexico (Tabasco)
Batusa producta (Stål, 1864) - Mexico (Jalisco)
An undetermined Batusa species from Mexico
Thiscia Stål, 1862 (type species Thiscia semicircularis Stål, 1862)
Thiscia jaraguensis Schmidt, 1932 - Brazil (Santa Catarina)
Thiscia melichari Schmidt, 1932 - Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
Thiscia ohausi Schmidt, 1932 - Brazil (Sao Paulo)
Thiscia semicircularis Stål, 1862 - Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
(Note Chlorochara Stål, 1869 is included with Acanalonia based on Caldwell & Martorell, 1951; Also Philatis Stål, 1862 from the Galapagos may possibly represented in the Neotropics).
Philatis breviceps Van Duzee, 1933 (image courtesy Mike Wilson, National Museum of Wales; specimen collected by Charles Darwin)
References
Bourgoin, T. 2012. FLOW (Fulgoromorpha Lists on The Web): a world knowledge base dedicated to Fulgoromorpha. Version 8, updated June 5, 2012. http://flow.snv.jussieu.fr/ (accessed June 5, 2012).
D’Urso, V. and M. Uliana. 2004. First record of Acanalonia conica (Issidae) in Italy. Third European Hemiptera Congress, Abstracts, St. Petersburg, Russia, 8-11 June 2004: 26-27.
D'Urso, V. and M. Uliana. 2006. Acanalonia conica (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Acanaloniidae), a Nearctic species recently introduced in Europe. Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Zoologische Reihe 53: 103–107.
Doering, K. C. 1932. The genus Acanalonia in America north of Mexico (Fulgoridae, Homoptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 25: 758‑786.
Emeljanov, A. F. 1999. Notes on delimitation of families of the Issidae group with description of a new species of Caliscelidae belonging to a new genus and tribe (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea). Zoosystematica Rossica 8: 61-72.
Fennah, R. G. 1954. The higher classification of the family Issidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) with descriptions of new species. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 105: 455‑474.
Freund, R. and S. W. Wilson. 1995. The planthopper genus Acanalonia in the United States (Homoptera: Issidae) morphology of male and female external genitalia. Insecta Mundi 9: 195-215.
Gnezdilov, V. M. 2007. On the systematic positions of the Bladinini Kirkaldy, Tonginae Kirkaldy, and Trienopinae Fennah (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea). Zoosystematica Rossica 15: 293-297.
Gnezdilov, V. M. 2008. To the taxonomy of higher Fulgoroidea. Bulletin of Insectology 61: 119-120.
Gnezdilov, V. M. 2012. On the composition and distribution of the family Acanaloniidae Amyot et Serville (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea). Entomologicheskoe obozrenie 91(3): 157–161. [In Russian]
Gnezdilov, V. M. 2012. On the taxonomy of some Fulgoroidea (Hemiptera). Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 316(3): 239-247.
Halbert, S. E. 1997. Entomology section. TRI-OLOGY 36(3), May-June, 1997: 3-11.
Halbert, S. E. 2000. Entomology section. TRI-OLOGY 39(3), May-June, 2000 (http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/enpp/triology/archive/00-may-jun.html#ent).
Halbert, S. E., L. B. O’Brien and S. W.Wilson. 2007. The planthopper genus Acanalonia in Florida with notes on a recently introduced species, A. excavata (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Acanaloniidae). Florida Entomologist 90: 690-692
Metcalf, Z. P. 1954. General catalogue of the Homoptera. Fasc. IV. Fulgoroidea, Part 14. Acanaloniidae. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. 55 pp.
Muir, F.A.G. 1930c. On the classification of the Fulgoroidea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Ser. 10) 6: 461-478.
Pechuman, L. L. and A. G. Wheeler. 1981. Northern range extension of Acanalonia conica (Homoptera: Acanaloniidae). Entomological News 92: 98‑100.
Wheeler, A. G., Jr. and E. R. Hoebeke. 1982. Host plants and nymphal descriptions of Acanalonia pumila and Cyarda sp. near acutissima (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea: Acanaloniidae and Flatidae). Florida Entomologist 65(3): 340-349.
Wilson, S. W. and J. E. McPherson. 1981b. Life histories of Acanalonia bivittata and A, conica with descriptions of immature stages. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 74: 289-298.
