Article beginning on page 211.
Psyche 5:211-213, 1888.

Full text (searchable PDF)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/5/5-211.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

NORTH AMERICAN TYPHLOCYBINI.
BY CHARLES WILLIAM WOODWORTH, FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. Although the prettiest and daintiest
of the whole family, the group tyfhio-
cybini is the least known to entomolo-
gists, at least in this country In order to call the attention of collectors to
them I kill attempt to straighten out
the generic groups into which they are
arranged and review what is known
about our native species.
The insects composing this group
were included by Linnaeus, Fabricius
and Zetterstedt in the old genus Cica-
da and by Germar, Herrich-Schaffes
and Say in Tettigonia. In 1832 Custih
(Ent. mag. v. I) made for these insects
a new genus for which he proposed the
name Eufteryx and cited C. fictae
Fabr. as the type. He did not have
correct views as to the limitation of the genus he established for we find him in
his later works including in it some
insects belonging to the genus Cicadula. The next year, 1883, Germar (Silb.
Rev. Ent. v. I.) applied the name
Tyfhlocyba to the same insects and his
name has been generally adopted by
entomologists although the English
hemipterologists have stoutly contested
for the priority of Eupteryx. In pro-
-
posing the name Germar simply men-
tions the following species as forming
the genus: Cicada awata, urticae
vittata, picta, percus, Fabr., etc."
Now it is evident that one of these
species must be taken as the type of the genus and as all except quercus belong
to Eufteryx in its most restricted
sense this species is the type. The
name Typhlocyba has been used as far
as I can make out only for insects of the groupy tyfklocybini possibly Fitch and
Walsh may have included a few species
of Gnathodes and Cicadula.
In 1840 Zetterstedt (Insecta Lappon-
ica) included the species of this group
in his genus Cicadula, but as I have
already shown (Psyche, v. 5, p. 75) the
genus Cicadula as first and naturally
restricted excludes these forms. In 1850 Hardy (Trans. Tyneside nat. field club,
p. 423) published a new British genus
Dicraneura which seems to have been
for a long time unnoticed, partly per-
haps on account of its obscure place of
publication and partly on account of the indisposition of European entomologists
to dismember the old genus Ty/hZocyba.
The next year Fitch (Rep. on state cab.
Nat. Hist. N. Y. 1851, p. 62-64) ignor-
ing or overlooking the genera already
proposed made two new genera Ery-
throneura and Empoa for our North
American species. These he separated
by the possession of a quadrate cell in
the apex of the elytron in the first and a triangular one in the second genus, but
this character is not of generic, or even. of specific value as can be proven by
examining a large series of specimens
of any species. I have even seen the




================================================================================

two forms of venation on the two sides
of the same insect. All the species
mentioned or described by Fitch belong
to Ty$hlocyba except fdae of Harris.
The latter was only incidentally men-
tioned by him as belonging to Erythro-
newa so I think it is the proper course
to consider both his genera as synonyms
of Typhlocyba. Fitch was soon aware
that his genera covered the same ground
as the European genus Typhlocyba, and
five years afterward in his annual report for 1856, published the same year, he
:attempts to restrict the genus Tyjhlocy- ba to a group of insects unknown to
Germar. In this he has been followed
by no one but Walsh and it is an un-
warranted restriction. Walsh in this
same year published in the Prairie
farmer and also separately ( reprinted
in Proc. Boston, soc. nat. hist. v. 9, p. 314-318)
an article in which he makes
two more genera Chloroneura and
Empoasca parallel with those of Fitch
and separated by the same character.
They form a single genus distinct from
any yet described which we will call
by the shorter and euphonious name
Empoasca.
In his "Neue gattungen" Fieber
(Verh. zoo1.-bot gesell. in Wien 16, p.
506-509) made ten genera of the
European species indicating types as
follows :
Cow@sus elegantula H-S.
discicollis H-S.
albostriellis H-S.
Erythria areolata Fall.
Notus flavi'ennis Zett .
furci$atus Flor.
orichalceus Dahlb.
Chloria viridula Fall.
fura Stal.
Kybos smaragdulus Fall.
comm/s?~raZlis Stal.
Anomia pews L.
Zyginia nivea Muls.
Idia scutellaris H-S.
~ullula Boh.
Ty/hlocyba lineatella Fall.
Eupferyx vittata L.
urticae Fabr.
Ìà
He made the same error that Walsh
and Fitch had in dividing the group on
insufficient characters so that some of his genera had to be abandoned and two of
the names (Compsus and Chloria}
were preoccupied. These latter were
changed by him in his "Katalog der
Europaischer Cicadinen" [I 8721 to
Alebra and Chlorita. In this same
work he unites Erythria with Notus
and Idia with Zyginia. The year
previous Sahlburg [Cicadaria 18711 had
united Zyginia, Anemia and Idia with
Ty$hZocyba and also Chloria with
Kybos. The last two he called erro-
neously Cicadula. In 1875 Douglass
(Ent. mo. mag. v. 12) substituted the
older name Dicranewa for Notus and
now after putting in our North Ameri-
can genera the synonymy stands as
follows :
Alebra Fieber
Com$sus Fieber
JSm$oasca Walsh
Chloro&ra Walsh
Kybos Fieber
Chlorita Fieber
Chloria Fieber




================================================================================

Dicraneura Hardy
Notus Fieber
Erythia Fieber
Typhlocyba Gei-rnai-
Erythroneura Fitch
Emfoa Fitch
Idia Fieber
Anomia Fieber
Zvg'inia Fieber
Enpteryx Curtis.
These genera may 'be very readily
distinguished by the following synopsis : A marginal vein extending all around
the posterior wing parallel with the
margin.
Elytra margined posteriorly. Alebra.
Elytra not nlargined.
Two apical cells in the posterior wing.
Dicranewa.
One apical cell in the posterior wing.
No marginal vein at the tip of the
posterior wing so that here the veins
end in the margin.
The first two longitudinal veins unit-
ing before reaching the margin.
Typh Iocyba.
All four veins attain the margin.
Eupteryx.
North American species have been
described as follows : by Say (Pi-oc.
acad. nat. sci. Phila., v.. 4, 1825 ;
Compl. works, v. 2, p. 259) four
species ; Harris (Encyclopaedia Amer-
icana 1831 and Injurious insects 1841)
three species. Fitch (Rep. on state
cab. nat. hist., N. Y., 1851) and (Third report on the noxious and other insects
of the state of New York 1856) eight
species ; Stal (Stett. ent. zeit. v. 19, p. 195-196) three species Walsh as
cited above thirteen species. Uhlei-
(Bull. U. S. geol. surv. v. 3, 1877) one species and Forbes (13th rep. 111. state entomologist I 884) one.
To Ale.4~~ belongs aurea, $aZZida
and bi??otata of Walsh but the descrip-
tions are so meagre that no one can cer- tainly say that they are distinct. I know quite a number of very pretty forms of
this genus still undesci-ibed.
Of the described forms of the genus
Enz$oasca we may make four groups of
what may be but four species. The first
includes fabe of Harris, viridescens con- so&rina and malefica of Walsh and purer
of Stal which are uniform green without
markings. Second obtusa and maligm
of WaLh which are certainly not distinct from each other but differ from the first in having a much more obtuse vertex..
Third albo$icta of Forbes which is dis-
tinguished by the white markings on the- vertex. And fourth the brilliant aurea-. viridis of Uhler.
Dicraneura is represented by abno7*-
7~zi.s of Walsh and carinata of Stal which may not be different.
In the genus Tyfhlocyba we have one-
of the most variable species in existence as regards the coloring, the so-called
grape thrips Tyfhiocyba vifis of Harris. Just how many of the forms described
as distinct species of this genus will be found to be varieties, of course it is im- possible at present to say, but certainly half of the colored species so far de-
scribed have been definitely made out
to be varieties. The colored species are vitis of Harris basi/ar& comes, obli-
pa, and trifasciata of Say, vulnerata,
tricincta, coccinia, vitifex and affinis



================================================================================

of Fitch and ziczac and octonotata of
Walsh. The unicolorous species are
pe~ci Fitch commissuralis Stal and
<aus/rczZ/s and albicans of Walsh.
Rosae
Harris, I think, belongs here.
There are no described species of
å£u$tery in North America but I am
acquainted with several undescribed.
One would expect that several Amer-
ican species would be the same- as
European but although I have compared
our species with the descriptions of the European insects and have had a con-
siderable set of European typhlocybini
for comparison I have yet to find one
identical.
This family is certainly a promising
one for study as the literature is small and, therefore, easily obtained and a rich harvest of new species is waiting to
reward the student.
"N-UC'ES ON CERTAIN CYNIPIDAE WITH DESCRIPTION S OF NEW SPECIES.
BY C. P. GILLETTE, AMES, IOWA.
(Concluded from p. 188.)
NEW SPECIES DESCRIBED.
GALLS ON WHITE OAK (2uercus aZba) .
Andricus foliafot-mis, n. sp.
Gall. Small wart-like projections
thrown out from the mid-rib on the
under side of the leaves from which
there grows a leafy expanse that extends on all sides like the corolla of a rotate flower. (Fig. I.)
Fig. I.
Gall-fly : Female. Head, dark reddish
brown with median line of face, vertex,
and occiput almost black ; front and
genae with many short gray hairs ; ver-
tex bare. Thorax from collar two-
thirds of the way to the scutellum,
between the parapsidal grooves, black ;
the remainder of the thorax brown.
Parapsidal grooves distinct but not
deep ; outside of the grooves on either
side a longitudinal patch of black is
separated from the central black portion by a yellowish-brown line along either
groove. Dorsal portion of thorax
sparsely haired ; pleurae rather densely haired ; tegulae brown. Abdomen
brown, smooth and shining, the dark-
est portion being on the posterior dorsal part. With a power of 50 diameters,
minute punctures can be seen on the
abdominal segments ; second segment
sparsely haired on sides. Scutellum
with two fovae at base separated from
each other by a narrow ridge ; rounded
behind, black at base, changing to




================================================================================