Family Dictyopharidae

Subfamily Dictyopharinae Onuki, 1901

Tribe Nersiini Emeljanov, 1983 (sensu Emeljanov 2011)

Genus Rhynchomitra Fennah, 1944

Type species (in original combination): Dictyophara microrhina Walker, 1851.

Synonyms: None.

Distribution: Mostly a Neotropical genus, also found in southern (especially southeastern) US.. 

Recognized species

There are 5 recognized species. 

Rhynchomitra cubanensis (Melichar, 1912) - Cuba (note: This combination listed on FLOW; at present I have not found the transfer from Dictyophara)

Rhynchomitra lingula (Van Duzee, 1908) - USA: DE, FL, GA, LA, MD, MS, NC, NJ, NY, SC
Rhynchomitra mexicana Fennah, 1944 - Mexico
Rhynchomitra microrhina (Walker 1851) - USA: AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, IL, KS, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NY, OK, PA, SC, TX, VA; Belize
Rhynchomitra recurva (Metcalf, 1923) - USA: FL, LA, NC, SC, TX

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

Rhynchomitra lingula - Serenoa repens (W. Bartram) Small (saw palmetto; Araceae)

Rhynchomitra microrhina - Cephalanthus occidentalis L. (buttonbush, Rubiaceae), Eragrostis curvula (Schrad.) Nees (weeping lovegrass, Poaceae), Hibiscus moscheutos L. (crimsoneyed rosemallow, Malvaceae)

Rhynchomitra recurva - Eragrostis curvula

Hosts from Donovall (2008) and Wilson & Wheeler (2005, 2010); plant names from USDA PLANTS or Tropicos.

Recognition:

North of Mexico, one of only 3 macropterous, 'green' (in life) genera. Tegula not carinate, head upcurved (both unlike Nersia); pronotum deeply notched (shallowly in Mitrops).

Among North American forms, R. ligula is easily recognized by the much shorter head.  Rhynchomitra microrhina and R. recurva are harder to separate. Metcalf (1923) claims:

Cephalic process slender, intermediate carinae of frons nearly parallel, "plates" (gonoplacs) longer than the ovipositor (fig. 560)... R. microrhina

Cephalic process stout, nearly parallel sided; intermediate carinae of the frons not parallel; ovipositor slightly longer than the "plates" (fig. 561) ... R. recurva

In practice, I have had difficulty with the ovipositor feature, but the length and width of the head from dorsal view seems to be satisfactory.

Ovipositor of R. microrhina (560), R. recurva (561), N. florens (562) and R. ligula (563) from Metcalf 1923.

Fig. 196-198 Scolops; 199-200 R. microrhina, 201-203 R. recurva, 204 N. florens, 205-206 R. ligula (From Metcalf 1923).

Rhynchomitra microrhina (Photos by Rick Donovall or Kimberley Shropshire, Department of Entomology, University of Delaware)

Rhynchomitra ligula (the head of this species is much shorter than R. microrhina) (Photos by Kimberley Shropshire, Department of Entomology, University of Delaware)

Rhynchomitra on Bugguide is here.

Collecting

Occasionally to lights or sweeping.

Molecular resources: As of this writing, several genes for Rhynchomitra microrhina are available on Genbank.  Three species of Rhynchmitra (R. ligula, microrhina, recurva) are available on Barcode of life.

Selected references:

Baptista, M.d.S. 2006. Taxonomia de Fulgoroidea no Brasil (Insecta: Hemiptera: Auchenorrhynca), com Enfase em Dictyopharidae. Universidade Federal se Vicosa. Doctoral Thesis

Baptista, M. S., Ferreira P. S. F. & Da-Silva E. R. 2006. Mitrops Fennah, 1944 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Dictyopharidae) from Brazil: a new species of and additional records. In: Taxonomia de Fulgoroidea no Brasil (Insecta: Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha), com ênfase em Dictyopharidae. Tese, Universidade de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil Artigo 1: 19-35.

Donovall, L. R., III. 2008. A generic revision of the new world Dictyopharinae (Hemiptera: Dictyopharidae). Masters Thesis. University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.

Emeljanov, A. F. 1983. Dictyopharidae from the Cretaceous deposits on the Taymyr Peninsula (Insecta, Homoptera). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal 3: 79-85 [In Russian; translated in: Paleontological Journal 17(3): 77-82].

Emeljanov, A. F. 2008. New genera and new species of the family Dictyopharidae (Homoptera), with notes on the systematics of the subfamily Dictyopharinae. Entomological Review 88: 296-328. [English translation]

Emeljanov, A. F. 2011. Improved tribal delimitation of the subfamily Dictyopharinae and description of new genera and new species (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea, Dictyopharidae). Ėntomologicheskoe Obozrenie 90(2): 299-328 [In Russian, English Translation, Entomological Review 91(9): 1122-1145].

Fennah, R. G. 1944. New Dictyopharidae from the New World (Homoptera : Fulgoroidea). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 57: 77-94. [description of genus plus R. mexicana]

Maes, J. M. and L. B. O'Brien. 1988. Catalogo de los Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) de Nicaragua. Revista Nicaraguense de Entomologia 2: 27-42.

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/].

Metcalf, Z. P. 1946. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV Fulgoroidea. Part 8 Dictyopharidae. Smith College, Northhampton, Massachusetts.

Pulz, C. E. and G. S. Carvalho. 2006. As espécies de Nersia (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Dictyopharidae) do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. [The species of Nersia (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Dictyopharidae) from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil]. Iheringia. Série Zoologia 96(1): 75-80.

Wilson, S. W. and A. G. Wheeler, Jr. 2005. An African grass, Eragrostis curvula (Poaceae), planted in the southern United States recruits rarely collected native planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Dictyopharidae, Fulgoridae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 113(3-4): 174-204.

Wilson, S. W. and A. G. Wheeler, Jr. 2010. Planthopper (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) diversity of weeping lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula), an introduced host of little known, rarely collected native species. Entomologica Americana 116(3/4): 98–106.

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.