Family Issidae

Subfamily Issinae

Tribe Issini Spinola, 1839

Subtribe Agalmatiina Gnezdilov, 2002

Genus Agalmatium Emeljanov, 1971

Type species (in original combination): Cercopis grylloides Fabricius, 1794; junior syn. of Fulgora flavescens Olivier, 1791.

Synonyms: None.

Distribution: A Palearctic genus adventive in California.

Recognized species

There are 5 species currently in this genus

Agalmatium abruptum (De Bergevin, 1920) - Morroco
Agalmatium bilobum (Fieber, 1877) - USA: CA (adventive); Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Italy (inc. Sardinia and Sicily), Lebanon, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Russia (Krasnodar territory), Spain (Inc. Canary Islands), Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine (inc. Crimea)

     = Hysteropterum bilobum Fieber 1877: 16.
     = Agalmatium bilobum (Fieber, 1877); comb. by implication Emeljanov 1971: 353.
     = Hysteropterum angustum Melichar 1906: 130; syn. by Dlabola 1980: 234.
     = Hysteropterum dubium Melichar 1906: 131; syn. by Dlabola 1984: 29.
     = Hysteropterum inconspicuum Matsumura 1910: 27; syn. by Dlabola 1984: 29.
     = Hysteropterum severini Caldwell & DeLong, 1948: 176; syn. by Gnezdilov & O’Brien 2006a: 51.
     = Hysteropterum beameri Doering, 1958: 101; syn. with H. severini Caldwell & Delong, 1948 by O’Brien 1988a: 868; syn. with A. bilobum by Gnezdilov & O’Brien 2006a: 51. Metcalf 1958, Doering 1958, O'Brien 1988a, Gnezdilov & O’Brien 2006a

Agalmatium costale (Matsumura, 1910) - Grenada, Spain, Portugal
Agalmatium curtulum (Melichar, 1906) - Spain, Portugal
Agalmatium flavescens (Olivier, 1791) - Mediterranean region; southern parts of central Europe, southern Russia (Krasnodor).

   = Agalmatium grylloides (Fabricius, 1794)

Distribution information from Metcalf (1958) and Holzinger et al. (2003).

Economic Importance:

Unclear, apparently low impact.

Schlinger (1958) describes the biology of Agalmatium bilobum (as Hysteropterum beameri) in California, which creates ‘mud cases’ for its eggs (see also Boulard 1987).

Known host plants: 

Agalmatium bilobum - Avena sativa L. (common oat, Poaceae).

Agalmatium grylloides - Ficus (figs, Moraceae)

Hosts from Wilson et al. 1994; plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos.

Recognition:

Agalmatium bilobum (all photographs by Lois O'Brien)

This genus is not on Bugguide.

Collecting

Adults are taken by sweeping or beating.

Molecular resources: As of this writing, there is no data on Agalmatium in Genbank or Barcode of Life.

Selected references:

Boulard, M. 1987. Contribution a l'etude des Issidae. L'ootheque terreuse des 'Hysteropterum', un probleme evolutif (Hom. Fulgoroidea). Bulletin de la Societé Entomologique de France 92(1-2): 5-17.

Demir, E. 2006. Preliminary report on the Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera) fauna of Kazdaği National Park with two new records for Turkey. Acta Entomologica Slovenica 14(1): 89-102. (record of Agalmatium bilobum in Turkey)

Gnezdilov, V. M. and L. B. O’Brien. 2006a. Hysteropterum severini Caldwell & Delong, 1948, a new synonym of Agalmatium bilobum (Fieber, 1877) (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Issidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 82: 50-53.

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., A. Maryanska-Nadachowska, and S. Nokkala. 2009. Karyotype characterization of planthopper species Hysteropterum albaceticum Dlabola, 1983 and Agalmatium bilobum (Fieber, 1877) (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Issidae) using AgNOR-, C- and DAPI/CMA(3) -banding techniques. Comparative Cytogenetics 3(2): 111-123.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1958. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV, Fulgoroidea, Part 15, Issidae. Waverly Press, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland.

Schlinger, E. I. 1958. Notes on the biology of a mud egg-case making fulgorid, Hysteropterum beameri Doering (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 31(2): 104-106.

Silvestri, F. 1934. Compendio di Entomologia Applicata (Agraria-Forestale-Medica-Veterinaria). Parte speciale. Vol. 1 (Fogli 1-28). Portici. Stab. Tip. Bellavista. 448 pp. (re: Agalmatium bilobum behavior)

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