Family Tropiduchidae

Subfamily Tambiniinae Kirkaldy, 1907

Tribe Remosini Fennah, 1982

Genus Neurotmeta Guérin-Méneville, 1856

Type species (in original combination): Fulgora sponsa Guérin-Méneville, 1856.

Synonyms: None.

Note: Tangia was subsumed under Neurotmeta Guérin-Méneville by Van Duzee 1917: 739; removed from synonymy by Fennah 1965: 100.

Distribution: Caribbean.

Recognized species

There is a single species currently in the genus:

Neurotmeta sponsa (Guérin-Méneville, 1856) - Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica (reported in error: USA: FL)
     = Fulgora (Pseudophana?) sponsa Guérin-Méneville, 1856: 180.
     = Tangia sponsa (Guérin-Méneville, 1856); comb. by Uhler 1884: 231.
     = Neurotmeta sponsa (Guérin-Méneville, 1856); comb. by Melichar 1912: 174, 217.

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

Neurotmeta sponsa - Psidium guajava L. (Guava, Myrtaceae), Coffea arabica L. (coffee, Rubiaceae)

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

Recognition:

Not verified from the U.S., although potentially present in southern Florida.  Could easily be mistaken for Tangia.

Features are: median carina of frons present; lateral fields of pronotum about as wide as median fields; vertex longer than broad (vs. Tangia breviceps).

Fennah (1965) gives these features to contrast Neurotmeta with Tangia:

Neurotmeta has lateral margins of frons not meeting lateral margins of vertex; median carina of vertex widely forked basally (vs. minutely forked at base in Tangia), distinctly before level of anterior margin of eyes; M in forewings 3-branched at level of nodal line (2-branched in Tangia); primary forks of M and CuA and union of claval veins lying on an oblique straight line; 22 veins at apical margin (vs. 15-18 in Tangia); wings with M 3-branched (vs. 2-branched in Tangia).

Neurotmeta sponsa (All photos by Kimberley Shropshire, Department of Entomology, University of Delaware)

Neurotmeta is not on Bugguide at present.

Collecting

Tropiduchids are most often at lights, but sometimes also beating.

Molecular resources: As of this writing, data for Tangia viridis is available on Genbank, and this genus is not available on Barcode of life.

Selected references:

Fennah, R. G. 1945. Tropiduchidae and Kinnaridae from the Greater Antilles (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Psyche 52: 119-138.

Fennah, R. G. 1965. New Species of Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from the West Indies. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 117(4): 95-126.

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

Guérin-Méneville, F. E. 1856. Segunda, Seccion. Homopterous. in Crustaceos, aragnides, e insectos. Pp. 178-182. In: Ramon de la Sagra D. Historia fisica politica y natural de la Isla de Cuba. Segunda Parte Historia Natural, 7.

Melichar, L. 1912a. Monographie der Dictyophorinen (Homoptera). Abhandlungen der K. K. Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien. 7 (1):1-221. [Transfer of Tangia sponsa to Neurotmeta.]

Melichar. L. 1914f. Monographie der Tropiduchinen (Homoptera). Verhandlungen des Naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn 1914:1-145.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1954. General Catalogue of the Hemiptera. Fascicle IV, Fulgoroidea, Part 11 Tropiduchidae. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Metcalf, Z. P. and S. C. Bruner. 1930. Cuban Fulgorina. 1. The families Tropiduchidae and Acanaloniidae. Psyche 37:395-424.

O'Brien, L. B. 1992. The Tropiduchidae of the United States (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 85(2): 121-126.

Stål, C. 1859. Hemiptera. Species novas descripsit. Fregatten Eugenies Resa. Arkiv for Zoologi 4: 219-298.

Van Duzee, E. P. 1917. Catalogue of the Hemiptera of America North of Mexico (excepting the Aphididae, Coccidae and Aleurodidae). University of California Publications, Technical Bulletins, vol. 2. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. i-xiv, 1-902.

Walker, F. 1851. List of the specimens of Homopterous Insects in the collection of the British Museum. British Museum, London. 2: 261-636.

Wilson, S. W. and J. E. McPherson. 1980. The distribution of the Fulgoroidea of the Eastern United States (Homoptera). Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 73(4): 7-20.

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.

Wolcott, G. N. 1950.The insects of Puerto Rico. [dated 1948]. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 32(1): 1-224.