Family Issidae

Subfamily Issinae

Tribe Issini Spinola, 1839

Subtribe Hysteropterina Melichar, 1906

Genus Exortus Gnezdilov 2004

Type species (in original combination): Hysteropterum punctiferum Walker, 1851 .

Synonyms: None.

Distribution: Southeastern United States.

Recognized species

There are two species currently assigned to this genus

Exortus fuscomaculosus (Doering, 1938) - USA: FL

     = Hysteropterum fuscomaculosum Doering, 1938.
     = Exortus fuscomaculosus (Doering, 1938); comb. by Gnezdilov 2004: 2.

Exortus punctiferus (Walker, 1851)- USA: FL, GA, TX (reported in error: USA: NJ, CO)
     = Hysteropterum punctiferum Walker, 1851: 376.
     = Exortus punctiferus (Walker, 1851); comb. by Gnezdilov 2004: 2.

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

Apparently none.

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

Recognition:

Hind wings absent or rudimentary, Body elongate (not rounded in dorsal view, vs Paralixes & Traxus), wings not strongly reticulate; Intermediate carinae of front present, raised; smaller species usually 4.4 mm or less; vertex not as deeply emarginate as Tylanira; intermediate carinae of frons converging dorsally; frons at dorsal margin about as wide as tall at median carina (about 1.05x) with dorsal dorsal margin v-shaped; vertex about 2x wider than long in middle; forewings uniformly speckled with fine dots, otherwise not strongly patterned; dorsoanterior portion of head rounded (not raised) in lateral view; dorsal margin of forewing straight in lateral view; southeastern (not southwestern)

Exortus fuscomaculosus (all photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware)

Exortus punctiferus

This genus is not listed on Bugguide both species are included under Hysteropterum.

Collecting

Adults are taken by sweeping or beating (I collected a good series at Archbold biological station, near Lake Placid, Florida).

Molecular resources: There is data for Exortus fuscomaculosus on Barcode of Life; there does not appear to be any data for this genus on Genbank.

Selected references:

Doering. K. C. 1938. A contribution to the taxonomy of the subfamily Issinae in America north of Mexico (Fulgoroidea: Homoptera. Part II. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 25(20): 447-575.

Gnezdilov, V. M. 2004. Two new genera of the family Issidae (Homoptera: Cicadina: Fulgoroidea) from North America. Russian Entomological Journal 13(1–2): 1–2.

Gnezdilov, V. M. and L. B. O'Brien. 2006. Generic changes in United States Issini (Hemiptera, Fulgoroidea, Issidae). Insecta Mundi 20(3-4): 217-225.

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

O'Brien, L. B. 1988. Taxonomic changes in North American Issidae (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 81(6): 865-869.

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