Family Fulgoridae

Subfamily Poiocerinae

Tribe Poiocerini Haupt, 1929

Subtribe Poiocerina Haupt, 1929

Genus Alaruasa Distant, 1906

Type species (in original combination): Poeocera misella Stål, 1863.

Synonyms: None.

Distribution: Southern US and Mexico.

Recognized species

This genus has 3 species, 2 of which gets occur in the U.S.

Poblicia fuliginosa (Olivier, 1791) - USA: AZ, GA, IL, KS, LA, MD, MO, MT, MS, NC, NM, OH, OK, SC, TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Morelos, Nuevo León)
Poblicia misella (Stål, 1863) - Mexico
Poblicia texana Oman, 1936 - USA: AR, TX

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

Poblicia fuliginosa - Rhus spp., esp. Rhus copallinum L. (winged sumac, Anacardiaceae) (in east); Baccharis sarothroides A. Gray (Asteraceae), Brickellia (Asteraceae) (in southwest).

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

Recognition:

Head not strongly produced, head with eyes equal or broader than pronotum, but not exceeding width of closed forewings; flange on posterior margin of head behind eye not obscuring lateral edge of pronotum; anterior abdominal tergites black, caudal tergites red in U.S. species.

(photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware).

This genus is here on bugguide.

Collecting

Found by inspecting hosts.  Poblicia fuliginosa can sometimes be common.

Molecular resources: Genbank has several genes for Poblicia fuliginosa; Barcode of life has data for P. fuliginosa and P. texana.

Selected references:

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

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.

Olivier, G. A. 1791. Fulgore, Fulgora. Encyclopedie méthodique. Histoire naturelle des animaux. Insectes 6: 561-577.

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

Stål, C. 1863. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Fulgoriden. Entomologische Zeitung. Herausgegeben von dem entomologischen Vereine zu Stettin. Stettin 24: 230-251.

Stål, C. 1866. Hemiptera Homoptera Latr. Hemiptera Africana 4: 1-276.

Walker, F. 1858. Supplement. List of the specimens of Homopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. [Published by] Order of Trustees, London.  307 pp.

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.