Family Fulgoridae

Subfamily Poiocerinae

Tribe Poiocerini Haupt, 1929

Subtribe Poiocerina Haupt, 1929

Genus Alaruasa Distant, 1906

Type species (in original combination):  Poiocera lepida Spinola, 1839.

Synonyms: None.

Distribution: Mostly Central America (but reaches Texas and northern South America).

Recognized species

This genus apparently has 7 species, 1 of which gets into extreme southern U.S.

Alaruasa aerata (Distant, 1887) - Costa Rica, Panama

Alaruasa anceps (Stal, 1869) - Mexico

    = Acmonia anceps Stål, 1869; comb. by O’Brien 1985: 660.
Alaruasa illustrata Nast, 1951 - Mexico, Guatemala
Alaruasa lepida (Spinola, 1839) - USA: TX; Mexico (Nuevo León), Guatemala, Brazil
    = Poblicia tricolor (Gerstaecker, 1860); syn. by O’Brien 1985: 660.
    = Poblicia atomaria (Walker 1858); syn. by O’Brien 1985: 660.

Alaruasa pallidoconspersa (Distant, 1905) - Mexico
Alaruasa violacea (Distant, 1887) - Guatemala

Alaruasa walkeri Oman 1936: 105 (new name for Poiocera constellata Walker, 1858 nec Guerin-Meneville, 1860) - Mexico

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

None

Host from Wilson et al. (1994); plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos.

Recognition:

Head not strongly produced, head with eyes narrower than pronotum; no transverse carina on pronotum (vs. Alphina and Calyptoproctus); sides of frons subparallel; forewings mostly opaque.

Alaruasa lepida (photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware).

This genus is here on bugguide.

Collecting

[?]

Molecular resources: Genbank has no data for Alaruasa; Barcode of life has data for Alaruasa lepida.

Selected references:

Da Costa Lima, A. M. 1935. Catalogo das especies americanas de Laternaridae (Homoptera : Fulgoroidea). Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 30: 481-517.

Distant, W. L. 1906.  Rhynchotal notes xxxix. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 7) 18: 191-208.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1938. The Fulgorina of Barro Colorado and other parts of Panama. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Coll. 82: 277-423. [available from http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org]

Metcalf, Z. P. 1947. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV Fulgoroidea. Part 9 Fulgoridae. Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts.

Nast, J. 1951. Some remarks on Neotropical Fulgoridae with descriptions of new genera and species (Homoptera). Annales Musei Zoologici Polonici 14: 267-279.

O'Brien, L. B. 1985. New synonymies and combinations in New World Fulgoroidea (Achilidae, Delphacidae, Flatidae, Fulgoridae: Homoptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 78(5): 657-662.

Oman, P. W. 1936. A new Poblicia from Texas. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 9: 105-107.

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.