Family Fulgoridae

Subfamily Amyclinae

Tribe Amyclini Metcalf, 1938

Genus Rhabdocephala Van Duzee 1929

Type species (in original combination): Rhabdocephala brunnea Van Duzee, 1929.

Synonyms:  None.

Distribution: Southwestern US and adjacent Mexico (Sonoran region).

Recognized species

This genus us monotypic.

Rhabdocephala brunnea Van Duzee, 1929 - USA: AZ, TX; Mexico (Sonora)

Economic Importance:

Limited - this genus is seldom encountered.

Known host plants: 

Rhabdocephala brunnea - Muhlenbergia porteri Scribn. ex Beal (bush muhly, Poaceae)

Host from Wilson & Wheeler (1992) and Wilson et al. (1994); plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos.

Recognition:

Head strongly anteriorly produced (one of only 3 fulgorid genera north of Mexico); cephalic process not substantively narrowed apically (vs. Amycle); vertex smooth in lateral view, rounded, pointed anteriorly, carinae not foliaceous; sides of head visible throughout (vs. Scolopsella).

Rhabdocephala brunnea (photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware)

This genus is here on Bugguide

Collecting

Adults and nymphs are found on the thatch at the base of their host plant (Wilson & Wheeler 1992). 

Molecular resources: Genbank has no data for Rhabdocephala brunnea; Barcode of Life has data for Rhabdocephala brunnea.

Selected references:

Metcalf, Z. P. 1938. The Fulgorina of Barro Colorado and other parts of Panama. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Coll. 82: 277-423. [available from http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org]

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

O'Brien, L. B. 1988. New World Fulgoridae, part 1: genera with elongate head processes. Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs 12: 135-170.

Van Duzee, E. P. 1929. Some new western Hemiptera. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 5: 186-191.

Wilson, S.W. and A.G. Wheeler, Jr. 1992. Host plant and descriptions of nymphs of the planthopper Rhabdocephala brunnea (Homoptera: Fulgoridae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 85(3): 258-264.

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.