Family Tropiduchidae

Subfamily Tambiniinae Kirkaldy, 1907

Tribe Tangiini Melichar, 1914

Genus Tangia Stål, 1859

Type species (in original combination): Monopsis viridis Walker, 1851.

Synonyms: None.

Note: This genus was subsumed under Neurotmeta Guérin-Méneville, 1856 (type species Fulgora sponsa Guérin-Méneville, 1856) by Van Duzee 1917: 739; removed from synonymy by Fennah 1965: 100.

Distribution: Florida and the Caribbean.

Recognized species

There are 7 species currently in the genus:

Tangia bipatriata (Fennah 1945: 147) - Nevis, St. Kitts
Tangia breviceps (Metcalf & Bruner, 1930) - USA: FL; Cuba
     = Neurotmeta breviceps Metcalf & Bruner, 1930: 398.
     = Tangia breviceps (Metcalf & Bruner, 1930); comb. by O’Brien 1992: 122.

Tangia dominicana (Fennah 1945: 148) - Dominica
Tangia literalis (Fennah 1945: 148) - Antigua
Tangia oreas (Fennah 1945: 147) - Montserrat
Tangia plistoanax Fennah 1971: 328 - Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman)
Tangia viridis (Walker 1851: 325) - Puerto Rico, St. Thomas

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

Tangia breviceps - Coccoloba uvifera (L.) L. (seagrape, Polygonaceae)

Tangia literalis - polyphagous

Tangia viridis - Citrus (Rutaceae); Croton humilis l. (pepperbush, Euphorbiaceae), Suiana maritima L. (bay cedar, Surianaceae), Coccoloba uvifera (L.) L. (seagrape, Polygonaceae)

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

Recognition:

The only green tropiduchid verified in the US; however, other species might be possible (particularly in southern Florida) particularly given past confusion.

Features are: median carina of frons present; lateral fields of pronotum about as wide as median fields; vertex broader than long (in breviceps, the only US species).

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

(vs. Neurotmeta) Tangia has lateral margins of frons meeting lateral margins of vertex; median carina of vertex only minutely forked at base, this fork basad of level of anterior margin of eyes (vs. forked basally, distinctly before level of anterior margin of eyes); M in forewing 2-branched at level of nodal line (vs. 3 branched); primary forks of M and CuA and union of claval veins not lying on a straight line, the last at same level and the first distad; 15-18 veins at apical margin (vs. 22); wings with M 2-branched (vs. 3 branched)

Tangia breviceps (All photos by Kimberley Shropshire, Department of Entomology, University of Delaware)

Tangia literalis

Tangia is not on Bugguide at present.

Collecting

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:

Caldwell, J. S. and L. F. Martorell. 1951 [dated 1950]. 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.

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

Fennah, R.G. 1949. On a small collection of Fulgoroidea (Homoptera) from the Virgin Islands. Psyche 56(2): 51-65.

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.

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., 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.