Family Cixiidae

Subfamily Bothriocerinae

Tribe Bothriocerini Muir, 1923

Genus Bothriocera Burmeister, 1835

Type species:  Bothriocera tinealis Burmeister, 1835 .

Synonyms: .

  = Adana Stål, 1856 (Type species Adana westwoodi Stål, 1856); syn. by Stål 1864a: 50 (moved to Bothriocera); see also Fowler 1904: 82 (conspecific with Bothriocera tinealis).

Distribution: Widespread in NewWorld

Recognized species

There are 46 species as follows

1 Bothriocera alba Caldwell, 1943 - Bolivia
2 Bothriocera basalis Metcalf, 1938 - Panama, Mexico (San Luis Potosi, Oaxaco)

3 Bothriocera bicornis (Fabricius, 1803) - Brazil, Trinidad (reported in error: USA: MD, FL, MS, NC, NJ, TX, NC, MS, FL; Cuba, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent)

4 Bothriocera boliviensis Caldwell, 1943 - Bolivia
5 Bothriocera caca Fennah, 1971 - Grand Cayman
6 Bothriocera cognita Caldwell, 1943 - USA: AL, DE, FL, IL, MD, MO, MS, NJ, OK, PA, TX, VA

7 Bothriocera cotiso Fennah, 1971 - Jamaica
8 Bothriocera cyanea Fennah, 1943 - Dominica
9 Bothriocera daedala Fennah, 1943 - Dominica
10 Bothriocera dampfi Caldwell, 1943 - Mexico (Chiapas, Veracruz)
11 Bothriocera datuna Kramer, 1983 USA: AL, FL, LA, TX

12 Bothriocera diploneura Fennah, 1971 - Cuba
13 Bothriocera drakei Metcalf, 1923 - USA: DE, FL, IL, LA, MD, NC, NY, OH
    = Bothriocera tinealis floridana Dozier, 1928: 56; syn. by Kramer 1983: 26.

14 Bothriocera eborea Fennah, 1943 - St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Vincent, Nevis, Martinique, Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, etc.

15 Bothriocera emeljanovi O'Brien, 2006 - Dominican Republic
16 Bothriocera excelsa Fowler, 1904 - Mexico
17 Bothriocera fasciola Caldwell, 1943 - Mexico (Oaxaca), Honduras
18 Bothriocera ferruginea Fennah, 1971 - Haiti
19 Bothriocera furcata Caldwell, 1943 - USA: FL, GA, MS, VA

20 Bothriocera haitiana Fennah, 1971 - Haiti
21 Bothriocera hastata Fennah, 1943 - St. Vincent
22 Bothriocera hispaniolae Caldwell, 1950 - Dominican Republic
23 Bothriocera holzingeri O'Brien, 2006 - Panama
24 Bothriocera knulli Caldwell, 1943 - USA: AZ, TX

25 Bothriocera latens Fennah, 1971 - Haiti
26 Bothriocera longistyla Fennah, 1943

    Bothriocera longistyla var vulgaris Fennah 1943 - St. Lucia
    Bothriocera longistyla var pallida Fennah 1943 - St. Vincent

27 Bothriocera lua Fennah, 1971 - Haiti
28 Bothriocera maculata Caldwell, 1943 - USA: AL, DE, FL, LA, MD, MS, NC, NJ, SC, TX, VA

29 Bothriocera metcalfi Caldwell, 1943 - Mexico (Chiapas, Veracruz)
30 Bothriocera nysa Fennah, 1971 - Trinidad
31 Bothriocera omani Kramer, 1983 - USA: FL, SC, VA

32 Bothriocera pachyneura Fennah, 1971 - Grand Cayman

33 Bothriocera parvula Fabricius, 1798 - French Guiana
34 Bothriocera pellucida Fowler, 1904 - Mexico
35 Bothriocera phantasma Fennah, 1943 - Dominica
36 Bothriocera regalis Fennah, 1971 - Jamaica
37 Bothriocera riparia Fennah, 1943 - St. Vincent
38 Bothriocera signoreti Stål, 1864a - Mexico (Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaco, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Veracruz), Cuba, St. Vincent (reported in error: USA: FL, GA, IL, MD, TX)

39 Bothriocera substigmatica (Lethierry, 1881) - Guadeloupe
40 Bothriocera tex Kramer, 1983 - USA: TX; Belize
41 Bothriocera tinealis Burmeister, 1835 - Brazil, Columbia, Jamaica, Guatemala, Mexico (Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Veracruz) (reported in error USA: FL, NC, OH)
42 Bothriocera transversa Caldwell, 1943 - USA: FL
43 Bothriocera turcafa Kramer, 1983 - USA: FL
44 Bothriocera undata (Fabricius, 1803) - Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico (Inc. Vieques Island); Virgin Islands (St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. Vincent) (reported in error: USA: FL, NC)

45 Bothriocera venosa Fowler, 1904 - Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti
46 Bothriocera westwoodi (Stål, 1856) - Mexico (Chiapas, Guerrero, Morelos, Veracruz), Jamaica (reported in error: USA: FL)

Economic Importance:

Limited (no reported pests).

Known host plants: 

Note: Nymphs presumed to be root feeders.  The significance of adult host association is unclear.

Bothriocera cognita - Spartina (Poaceae, cordgrass), Juncus (Juncaceae, Rush), Cephalanthus occidentalis L. (Rubiaceae, common buttonbush), Quercus (Fagaceae, Oak)

Bothriocera drakei - Pteridophyta

Bothriocera eborea - Coccoloba uvifera (L.) L. (seagrape, Polygonaceae)

Bothriocera maculata - Spartina patens (Aiton) Muhl., Spartina cynosuroides (L.) Roth (Poaceae, cordgrass), Juncus roemerianus Scheele (Juncaceae, needlegrass rush, black rush)

Bothriocera signoreti - Cyperus papyrus L. (papyrus, Cyperaceae), Murdannia nudiflora (L.) Brenan (as Commelina nudiflora L., nakedstem dewflower, Commelinaceae), ferns, Polygonum punctatum Elliott var. punctatum (as Polygonum acre Kunth., Polygonaceae, dotted smartweed)

Bothriocera transversa - Chrysobalanus icaco L. (coco plum, Chrysobalanaceae), Cestrum nocturnum L. (Solanaceae, night jessamine), Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae, coconut palm), Borrichia arborescens (L.) DC. (Asteraceae, tree seaside tansy)

Bothriocera venosa - Coffea (Coffee, Rubiaceae)

Bothriocera sp. - Veitchia merrillii (Becc.) H.E. Moore (Arecaceae)

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

Recognition:

Only genus north of Mexico with the antennae anterior to the compound eyes.

Bothriocera cognita (all photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware)

Collecting

Most often found sweeping plants in humid situations.

Molecular resources: As of this writing, no data for this genus on Barcode of Life; Genbank has data for Bothriocera eborea and 2 undetermined Bothriocera spp..

Selected references:

Caldwell, J. S. 1943. Notes on the Genus Bothriocera Burmeister (Homoptera: Cixiidae). Lloydia 6:318-325.

Caldwell, J. S. and L. F. Martorell. 1951 [dated1950]. Review of the Auchenorynchous [sic] Homoptera of Puerto Rico. Part II. The Fulgoroidea except Kinnaridae. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 34(2): 133-269.

Fennah, R. G. 1943. New species of Bothriocera Burm. (Homoptera: Cixiidae) from the Lesser Antilles. Psyche 50: 9-17.

Fennah, R. G. 1971. Fulgoroidea from the Cayman Islands and adjacent Areas. Journal of Natural History 5: 299-342.

Kramer, J. P. 1983. Taxonomic study of the planthopper family Cixiidae in the United States (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 109: 1-57.

O'Brien, L. B. 2006. Three new species of Neotropical Cixiidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha). Russian Entomological Journal 15(3): 311-314.

Thomas, M. C. 1989. Insect detection - a cixiid planthopper, Bothriocera datuna Kramer. Tri-Ology 28(3): 5.

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