Family Issidae

Subfamily Issinae

Tribe Issini Spinola, 1839

Subtribe Thioniina Melichar, 1906

Genus Thionia Stål, 1859

Type species (in original combination): Issus longipennis Spinola 1839.

Synonyms:

    = Cyclumna Fowler, 1904 (Type species Cyclumna subrotunda Fowler, 1904); syn. by Metcalf 1938: 415.
    = Issomorphus Melichar, 1906 (Type species Issomorphus maculatus Melichar, 1906); syn. by Metcalf 1938: 414. .

Subgenera

Cheiloceps Uhler, 1895 (subsumed to subgeneric level by Fennah 1955: 34) (Type species Cheiloceps musca Uhler 1895:68).  This subgenus includes 4 species; all other species assumed to be Thionia (Thionia).

Distribution: Widespread in Nearctic (reaching southern Canada) and Neotropical ecozones.  In the U.S., most diverse in southwest.

 

Recognized species

There are 76 species in this genus as follows:.

Species north of Mexico

1 Thionia acuta Doering, 1941 - USA: OK, TX; Mexico (Hidalgo)
     = Thionia naso Doering, 1938: 463 [nec. Fowler 1905]; replacement name by Doering 1941: 214.
2 Thionia bullata (Say, 1830) - USA: AL, AR, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX; CAN: ON
     = Thionia bullata bullata (Say, 1830); comb. by implication Metcalf 1938: 411, see Metcalf 1958: 441-442.
   Thionia bullata conspersa (Walker, 1851) - USA: NC
3 Thionia elliptica (Germar, 1830) - USA: AR, DC, GA, KY, IL, MD, MO, MS, NJ, NC, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, VA; CAN: ON
4 Thionia obrienae Wilson, 1987 (in Wheeler & Wilson 1987) USA: TX
5 Thionia omani Doering, 1938 - USA: NM
6 Thionia producta Van Duzee, 1908 - USA: AZ, CO, OK, TX, UT
7 Thionia quinquata Metcalf, 1923 - USA: AL, GA, NC
8 Thionia simplex (Germar, 1830) - USA: AL, AR, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, KY, MD, MO, MS, NC, NJ, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA

 

Neotropical species (adopted from an unpublished list by Lois O'Brien)

1 Thionia anguillana Fennah 1965:104 - Anguilla

2 Thionia argo Fennah 1949:60 – Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Vieques, Jost Van Dyke, Culebreta Is.

3 Thionia bifasciatifrons Melichar 1906:274 - Brazil

4 Thionia biforis (Germar 1830:51) - Brazil

5 Thionia boliviensis Schmidt 1910:205 - Bolivia

6 Thionia borinquensis Dozier 1931:18 - Puerto Rico

7 Thionia borinqueta Caldwell 1951:251 (in Caldwell & Martorell 1951) - Puerto Rico

8 Thionia brasiliensis Schmidt 1910:190 - Brazil

9 Thionia brevifrons Schmidt 1910:196 - Bolivia

10 Thionia brevior Fowler 1904:123 - Mexico (Veracruz), Panama

11 Thionia bufo Fennah 1945:508 - Trinidad

12 Thionia carinata Melichar 1906:281 - Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama

13 Thionia caviceps Fowler 1905:125 - Panama.

14 Thionia colombiae (Walker 1851:361) - Colombia, Venezuela

     Thionia conspersa Fowler, 1904 see Thionia fowleri Metcalf, 1938

15 Thionia coriacea (Fabricius 1803:100) – Brazil, Guiana, Panama

16 Thionia crucifera Metcalf 1938:411 - Panama

17 Thionia dissimilis Schmidt 1910:2006 - Colombia

18 Thionia dryas Fennah 1945:507 - Trinidad

19 Thionia dubiosa Melichar 1906:276 - Peru

20 Thionia ecuadoriensis Schmidt 1910:203 - Ecuador

21 Thionia fowleri Metcalf 1938:411, new name for T. conspersa Fowler 1905:125 - Guatemala

22 Thionia fusca Melichar 1906:274 - Brazil

23 Thionia gibba Melichar 1906:275 - Brazil

24 Thionia gibbicollis Dozier 1931:17 - Haiti

25 Thionia herbacea (Spinola 1839:357) - French Guiana, Brazil

26 Thionia humilis Fowler 1904:124, pl. 12 - Mexico (Guerrero, Veracruz)

27 Thionia impressa Melichar 1906:284 - Jamaica

28 Thionia latifrons Melichar 1906:275 - Bolivia

29 Thionia longipennis (Spinola 1839:348) - Locality unknown, Brazil, Venezuela

     Thionia longula (Lethierry 1890:149) (Venezuela) to Colpoptera longula (Lethierry, 1890) by Gnezdilov 2012.

30 Thionia maculata Melichar 1906: 279 – “Laguayca” (South America)

31 Thionia maculipes Stal 1864:51 - Mexico

32 Thionia mammifera Fennah 1945:508, pl. 17 - Trinidad

33 Thionia mexicana Melichar 1906: 285 - Mexico

34 Thionia minor Schmidt 1910:201 - Brazil

35 Thionia naso Fowler 1904:124 - Mexico (Hidalgo, Veracruz)

36 Thionia obsoleta Melichar 1906:278 – Brazil

37 Thionia obtusa Melichar 1906:279 - Mexico (Morelos, Jalisco, Michoacán)

38 Thionia ocellata Melichar 1906:270 - "North America" (Not U.S. see Doering 1938:457)

39 Thionia ohausi Schmidt 1910:199 - Ecuador

40 Thionia onerata Melichar 1906:270 - Venezuela

41 Thionia ovata Melichar 1906:280 - French Guiana, Brazil

42 Thionia parana Bergroth 1910:240, new name for T. coriacea Melichar nec Fabricius - Brazil

43 Thionia pehlkei Schmidt 1910: 198 - Colombia

44 Thionia pictifrons Fowler 1905:125 - Mexico (Guerrero)

45 Thionia prasina (Spinola 1839:349) - Brazil, Venezuela

46 Thionia proxima Melichar 1906:278 - Peru, Colombia

47 Thionia puertoricensis Caldwell 1951:251 (in Caldwell & Martorell 1951) - Puerto Rico

      Thionia punctipes, nomen nudum Melichar 1906:27

48 Thionia quadratifrons Schmidt 1910:193 - Bolivia

49 Thionia ramosi Caldwell 1951:249 (in Caldwell & Martorell 1951)- Puerto Rico

50 Thionia rubrocostata (Spinola 1839:357) - Brazil

51 Thionia schmidti Schmidt 1910:207 - Costa Rica

52 Thionia scutellata Fowler 1904:123 - Mexico (Veracruz)

53 Thionia similis Schmidt 1910:202 - Brazil

54 Thionia sinuata Schmidt 1910:195 - Bolivia

55 Thionia soluta Fowler 1905:126 - Panama

56 Thionia sordida Fowler 1904:124 - Mexico (Guerrero)

57 Thionia stipes Fowler 1905:127 - Panama

     Thionia testacea Walker, see T. colombiae Walker

58 Thionia tigrata Melichar 1906:272 - Peru, Bolivia

59 Thionia transversalis Melichar 1906:281 – “North America”

60 Thionia truncatella Melichar 1906:284 - Mexico

61 Thionia ustulipunctata (Uhler 1876:355) - Cuba, Mexico

     Thionia varia Walker, 1851 see Philatis varia (Walker) (Acanaloniidae), comb. by Gnezdilov 2012

62 Thionia variata Melichar 1906:278 - S.A., Brazil

63 Thionia variegata Stal 1864:51 - Mexico (Veracruz), Guatemala, Panama, Dominica

     Thionia variegata var.___Fowler 1904:122 - Panama

Subgenus Cheiloceps Uhler, 1895; type-species Cheiloceps musca Uhler 1895)

65 Thionia (Cheiloceps) clusiae Fennah 1955:35 - St.  Lucia

66 Thionia (Cheiloceps) laodice Fennah 1955:36 - Montserrat

67 Thionia (Cheiloceps) medusa Fennah 1955:34 - Dominica

68 Thionia (Cheiloceps) musca (Uhler 1895:68), comb. by Fennah 1945:122 - St.  Vincent

    Thionia (Cheiloceps) musca grenadana Fennah 1955:34 - Dominica

 

Fossil species

Thionia douglundbergi† Stroinski & Szwedo, 2008

 

Economic Importance:

Limited.

Known host plants: 

Thionia argo - Coccoloba uvifera (L.) L. (seagrape, Polygonaceae)

Thionia borinqueta - Coccoloba uvifera (L.) L.

Thionia bullata - Pinus taeda L (Loblolly pine, Pinaceae), P. echinata Mill. (Shortleaf pine), P. virginiana Mill. (Virginia pine)

Thionia clusiae - Clusia L. (attorny, Clusiaceae)

Thionia elliptica - Quercus ilicifolia Wangenh. (bear oak, Fagaceae), Q. marilandica Münchh. (blackjack oak)

Thionia producta - Juniperus (Cupressaceae)

Thionia simplex - polyphagous on dicots

Thionia sp. - Prosopis (mesquite, Fabaceae)

(more to add from subsequent literature)

 

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

Recognition:

Hind wings well-developed (evident by peering beneath the forewings in ventral view), bearing large notch in hindwing at claval fold, body stout  but usually narrower than Picumna), hind tibiae with 2 lateral spines (4 in Picumna)

 

Hind tibia and tarsus of Thionia elliptica showing 2 lateral spines.

Key to Thionia species from Doering (1938) (note T. naso = T. acuta and T. elliptica sensu Doering = T. obrienae)

Thionia bullata (photographs by Kimberley Shropshire, University of Delaware)

Thionia elliptica

Thionia producta

Thionia quinquata

 

Thionia simplex

Hind tarsus of Thionia simplex.

 

This genus is here on Bugguide (I am not sure that the species identifications are all right).

Collecting

Adults are taken beating woody vegetation or by inspection of hosts.  This genus was found in abundance in canopy fogging samples from Ecuador.

Molecular resources: There are no data for this genus on Genbank; Barcode of Life has data for three species and a Thionia sp. (Thionia ellipticus, T. gibbicollis, and T. simplex).

 

Selected references:

Caldwell, J. S. 1945. Notes on Issidae from Mexico (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 38: 89-120.

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.

Doering. K. C. 1938. A contribution to the taxonomy of the subfamily Issinae in America north of Mexico (Fulgoroidea: Homoptera. Part II. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 25(20): 447-575.

Doering, K. C. 1941. A contribution to the taxonomy of the subfamily Issinae in America north of Mexico (Fulgoroidea: Homoptera. Part IV. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 27(10):185-233.

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

Fennah, R. G. 1955. Lanternflies of the Family Issidae of the Lesser Antilles (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Proceedings of the United States Museum 105(3350): 23-47.

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.

Fowler, W. W. 1904. Order Rhynchota. Suborder Hemiptera-Homoptera. (Continued). Biologia Centrali-Americana; contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America 1: 85-124 (1904), 125-139 (1905).

Germar, E. F. 1830. Species Cicadarium enumeratae et sub genera distributae. Thon's Entomologisches Archiv. 2 (2):1-8 [i.e. 37-44], 45-57.

Gnezdilov, V. M. 2009. Revisionary notes on some tropical Issidae and Nogodinidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49(1): 75-92.

Gnezdilov V. M. 2012. On the composition and distribution of the family Acanaloniidae Amyot et Serville (Homoptera, Fulgoroidea). Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 91(3): 643-647.

Melichar, L. 1906. Monographie der Issiden. (Homoptera). Abhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königliche Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 3: 1-327.

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. 1958. General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicle IV, Fulgoroidea, Part 15, Issidae. Waverly Press, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland.

Say, T. 1830. Descriptions of new North American hemipterous insects, belonging to the first family of the section Homoptera of Latreille. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 6:235-244, 299-314.

Schmidt, E. 1910c. Die Issinen des Stettiner Museums. (Hemiptera-Homoptera). Entomologische Zeitung 71: 146-220.

Spinola, M. 1839a. Essau sur les Fulgorelles, sous-tribu de la tribu des Cicadaires, ordre des Rhyngotes. Annales de la Société entomologique de France 8:133-454.

Stål, C. 1864. Hemiptera mexicana enumeravit speciesque novas descripsit. (Continuatio). Entomologische Zeitung. Herausgegeben von dem entomologischen Vereine zu Stettin. Stettin 25: 49-86.

Stroinski, A. and J. Szwedo. 2008. Thionia douglundbergi sp nov from the Miocene Dominican amber (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Issidae) with notes on extinct higher planthoppers. Annales Zoologici 58(3) 529-536.

Uhler, P. R. 1876. List of Hemiptera of the region west of the Mississippi River, including those collected during the Hayden Explorations of 1873. Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. 1 (5): 269-361.

Uhler, P. R. 1895. An enumeration of the Hemiptera-Homoptera of the Island of St. Vincent, W. I. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1895: 55-84.

Van Duzee, E. P. 1908. Studies in North American Fulgoridae. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1907: 467-498.

Walker. F. 1858. Supplement. List of the specimens of Homopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. 307 pp.

Wheeler, A.G., Jr. 1996. Use of an introduced host, scotch pine, by a native planthopper, Thionia bullata (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Issidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 98(2): 374-375.

Wheeler, A.G., Jr. and S.W. Wilson. 1987. Life history of the Issid planthopper Thionia elliptica (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) with description of a new Thionia species from Texas. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 95(3): 440-451.

Wheeler, A.G., Jr. and S.W. Wilson. 1988. Notes on the biology and immatures of the issid planthoppers Thionia bullata and T. simplex (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 96(3): 266-273.

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.