Family Derbidae

Subfamily Otiocerninae

Tribe Patarini Emeljanov, 1996

Genus Patara Westwood, 1840

Type species (in original combination): Patara gutata Westwood, 1840.

Synonyms: 

    = Petata, missp. by Proctor 1946: 95.

Distribution: One species in eastern U.S., but the genus is represented by 12 additional species widespread in the Caribbean and Central America.  There are also a series of afrotropical species described into this genus (some subsequently moved into Synavea).

Recognized species

Nearctic and Neotropical species
1 Patara albida Westwood, 1840 - St. Vincent
2 Patara cyanea Fennah 1952:147 - Dominica
3 Patara fumipennis Fennah 1952:148 - St. Lucia
4 Patara gausapata Fennah 1952:149 - St. Vincent
5 Patara guttata Westwood, 1840 - St. Vincent
6 Patara inermis Fennah 1952:149 - St. Lucia
7 Patara marmorata Fowler, 1904: 79 - Guatemala, Mexico
8 Patara mimula Fennah 1952:148 - Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat.
   Patara mimula unicornis Fennah 1952:148 - St. Lucia
9 Patara pakaraima Fennah 1952:150 - Guyana
10 Patara poeciloptera Fennah 1945:448 - Trinidad
11 Patara trigona Fennah 1945:447 - Trinidad
12 Patara vanduzei Ball, 1902b - USA: DE, GA, IL, MD, ME, MO, NC, NH, NY, OH, OK, PA, TN; CAN: ON, QB
13 Patara vittatipennis Fennah 1945:448 - Trinidad

Afrotropical species

1 Patara appendiculata Van Stalle, 1982
2 Patara armata Van Stalle, 1984
3 Patara complanata Van Stalle, 1986
4 Patara eloeidis Muir, 1930
5 Patara leopoldi Van Stalle, 1982
6 Patara mambilae Van Stalle, 1984
7 Patara ovata Van Stalle, 1984
8 Patara quadrispinosa Synave, 1979
9 Patara taiensis Van Stalle, 1986
10 Patara tuberculata Van Stalle, 1984
11 Patara unimaculata Van Stalle, 1982

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

Derbidae are known or assumed to feed on fungal hyphae as immatures.  The significance of adult host associations are unclear.

Patara albida - Inga vera Willd. (river koko, Fabaceae)

Patara eloeidis  - Elaeis guineensis L.(Arecaceae, African oil palm)

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

Recognition:

Small, fragile forms (5 mm or less); sexually dimorphic; wings greatly exceeding  abdomen, frons extremely compressed, antennae lacking appendages, head only slightly projecting in front of eyes (less than diameter of eye), clavus closed, second antennal segment flattened, longer than width of head across eyes, male antennae longer than those of female.

Patara vanduzei (photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware)

Patara on Bugguide.

Collecting

Occasionally found at lights or sweeping; also found in malaise traps.

Molecular resources: As of this writing, there are appears to be no molecular data for this genus on Genbank; Barcode of Life has data for Patara vanduzei.

Selected references:

Ball, E. D. 1902b. New genera and species of North American Fulgoridae. Canadian Entomologist 34: 259-266.

Ball, E. D. 1928. Some new genera and species of N. A. Derbidae with notes on others (Fulgoridae). Canadian Entomologist 60: 196-201.

Bartlett, C. R., E. R. Adams, and A. T. Gonzon. 2011. Planthoppers of Delaware (Hemiptera, Fulgoroidea), excluding Delphacidae, with species incidence from adjacent States. ZooKeys 83: 1-42.

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.

Dozier, H. L. 1928a [dated 1922 or 1926]. The Fulgoridae or planthoppers of Mississippi, including those of possible occurrence. Technical Bulletin of the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station 14: 1-152.

Emeljanov, A. F. 1996. On the system and phylogeny of the family Derbidae (Homoptera, Cicadina). Entomological Review 75: 70-100). (Translation of Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 1995, 73: 783-811, Russian summary 946-947).

Fennah, R. G. 1945. The Fulgoroidea, or lanternflies, of Trinidad and adjacent parts of South America. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 95(3184): 411-520

Fennah, R. G. 1952. On the generic classification of Derbidae (Fulgoroidea), with descriptions of new Neotropical species. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 103(4): 109-170.

Fowler, W. W. 1904. Order Rhynchota. Suborder Hemiptera-Homoptera. (Continued). Biologia Centrali-Americana 1: 57-76, 77-84.

Kirby, W. F. 1821. The characters of Otiocerus and Anotia, two new genera of Hemipterous insects belonging to the family of Cicadiadae : with a description of several species. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London (Second series) Zoology 13: 12-23.

McAtee, W. L. 1923a. A new species of Otiocerus (Homoptera; Fulgoridae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 36: 45-48.

Metcalf, Z. P. 1923. A key to the Fulgoridae of eastern North America with descriptions of new species. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 38(3): 139-230, plus 32 plates. [available from http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/jncas/]

Muir, F. A. G. 1930. New Derbidae from Sierra Leone (Homoptera Fulgoroidea). Annals and Magazine of Natural History. London. (Ser. 10) 5: 81-84.

Synave, H. 1979. Description d'espèces nouvelles appartenant aux familles: Cercopidae, Cixiidae, Derbidae, Dictyopharidae et Tropiduchidae (Homoptera). Bulletin du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique. Bruxelles 51(6): 1-31.

Van Stalle, J. 1982. Scientific results of the Belgian Mount-Cameroon expedition (February-April 1981). III. Fam. Cixiidae, Derbidae, Meenoplidae, Dictyopharidae, Achilidae, Lophopidae and Tettigometridae (Homoptera - Fulgoroidea). Bulletin du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique. Bruxelles 54(6): 1-18.

Van Stalle, J. 1984. New and interesting African Derbidae (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea). Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (1983) 55(1): 1-61.

Van Stalle, J. 1986. Les Derbides de la Forêt de Taï (Côte D’Ivoire), Tribus Cenchreini et Otiocerini Description de dix-neuf espècies nouvelles (Homoptera, Fulgoromorpha). Revue Française d'Entomologie. Paris 7(5): 241-255.

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