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

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PSYCHE
VOL. 56 JUNE, 1949 No. 2
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF FULGOROIDEA
(HOMOPTERA) FROM THE VIRGIN ISLANDS1
Entomologist, Food-crop Pests Investigation, Windward and Leeward Islands
The Virgin Islands, which lie between 18'55 N. 64OlO W. and 18'25 N. 65O00 W., are the eastern outliers of the Greater Antilles. St. Thomas, the westernmost, is sepa- rated by a channel 30 miles wide from Culebra, off Puerto Rico, while St. John is 70 miles from the St. Barts group to the south. St. Croix, though politically grouped with the Virgin Islands, is not considered here as it stands apart from the chain of islands between St. Thomas and Anegada.
The natural vegetation of these islands consists to an overwhelming extent of dry scrub. At the summit of the highest points occur small patches of woodland with the characteristics of true mountain forest. As far as Fulgoroidea are concerned, the affinities of the fauna are unquestionably with that of Puerto Rico, and it would seem (in the absence of collections from the St. Barts group) that the islands represent the further- most limit of some of the Greater Antillean species. Of the species discussed below Bothriocera eborea Fenn. and Sogata furcifera (Horv.) are the only two which range southward through the Leeward and Windward Islands : Oliarus campestris Fenn., Petrusa marginata published with a grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College.
51
Pu&e 565 1-65 (1949). hup Ytpsychu einclub orgtSd/SS-OSLhtinl



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52 Psyche 1 June
(Brunn. ) and Melormenis quadripunctata (F. ) occur in the Greater Antilles and in the Leeward Islands (An- tigua, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat) but not in the Wind- ward Islands; Cubana tortriciformis Muir is represented in the Lesser Antilles by very close geographical equiva- lents grouped around the St. Vincent Cubana tortrix Uhl. ; Neurotmeta occurs as far south as Dominica; Oliarus campestris is very clearly replaced in the Windward Islands and Trinidad by 0. maidis Fenn. The group of species or subspecies closely resembling Acanalonia de- pressa Mel. has no representatives in the Lesser Antilles, while the Thionia described below is not very close to any Lesser Antillean species. The genera Ladella, Remosa, and Tangella and the flatid Parthenormenis described below do not occur in the Lesser Antilles and have no obvious equivalents there, though by contrast the forest- dwelling Chasmacephala of the Windward Islands clearly shares a common ancestry with the Greater Antillean Parahydriena and Cyphoceratops.
In so small a collection little significance can be at- tached to the absence of species but, in view of their abundance in the Leeward Islands as far north as An- guilla, the writer would have expected to find a species of Ilesia among the flatids of the littoral zone. The genus Antillormenis does not reach northward of the Leeward Islands and even here occurs only in Montserrat. CIXIIDB
Cubana Uhler
Uhler 1895 Proc. 2001. Soc. Lond.: 62. Haplotype, Cu- bana tortrix Uhler loc. cit.: 62.
Cubana t ortricif ormis Muir
Muir 1924 Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc. 5, 3: 461. A single female taken by the writer at Road Town, Tortola (Feb. 25, 1944) is assigned to this species. The specimen differs from the type of C. tortrix only in hav- ing the distal fuscous line in the tegminal membrane overlying cell R2 and the large spot basad of it bicon- cave on its inner face. It is probable that Pintalia alta Osborn is this species.




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Oliarus (Melanoliarus) Fenn.
Fennah 1945 Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 58: 141. Subgeno-
type, Oliarus maidis Fenn. 1945 Proc. U. S. Nut. Mus. 95 : 423.
Oliarus (Melanoliarus) campest ris Fenn. Fennah 1945 loc. cit. : 141.
One male was taken by the writer on Jost Van Dyke (Feb. 18, 1944). In this subgenus of Oliarus each ovary comprises sixteen ovarioles. In the closely allied genus Vimcentia each ovary has eighteen ovarioles. Bothriocera Burm.
Burmeister 1835 Handbuch der Entomologie : 156. Hap- lotype, Bothriocera tinealis Burmeister loc. cit.: 156. Bothiocera eborea Fenn.
Fennah 1943 Psyche 52: 14.
Three males and four females were taken by the writer on Jost Van Dyke on Coccoloba uvifera (Feb. 18, 1944), and two males and eight females on Tortola (Feb. 15- 17, 1944).
DELPHACIDB
Sogata Distant
Distant 1906 F. B. I. 3 : 471.
Orthotype, Sogata dohertyi
Distant loc. cit. : 471.
Sogata furcif era (Horv.)
Delphax furcifer Horvath 1899 Term. Fuz. 22: 372. One male taken by the writer at Road Town, Tortola (Feb. 14, 1944).
This generic assignment is merely pro-
visional pending revision of the family. The tropiduchid fauna of Central America and the West Indies is rich in genera and nomenclatorial con- fusion has arisen as a result of changed conceptions of generic limits. In his classification of the family Meli- char accorded tribal status to genera in which a costal area with transverse veinlets is present in the tegmina; genera within this group characterised by marked elonga-



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54 Psyche [June
tion of the vertex were separated as a further tribe (Peg- giogini). These tribal characters are not rigorous in their application, but intergrade with those found in the Tambiniini both in West Indian and Australasian genera. The development of a costal area, for example, may vary within a single genus.
The South American Rotu-
nosa mdicafida (Wlk.) has a narrow costal area with distinct transverse veinlets in the distal part of the cor- ium; nearer the base the costal area narrows and these veinlets progressively merge into the membrane, where they are visible only as faint striae, and finally dis- appear. In Rotunosa grandis (Fenn.) the costal vein is slightly submarginal and devoid of transverse veinlets, though towards the node faint transverse striae can be de- tected. This condition can be matched elsewhere in tam- biniine Tropiduchidae. As far as American genera are concerned the writer proposes to regard all in which the antennae are short, with the second joint subglobose, the mesonotum less than 1.5 times as broad as long with the lateral discal carinae parallel in their basal half, the tegmina thin and subhyaline, with a line of transverse veins between the node and apex of the clavus as belong- ing to a single subfamily. This group appears to be naturally related to the Old World Tropiduchus. A key to the new world genera, based on this view, is given below, being modified from the writer's earlier key to Tambiniini (sensu Melichar) .
KEY TO NEW WORLD GENERA or TEOPIDUCHINI
(1) (2) Tegmina with a distinct costal area, subequal in width to costal cell, traversed by veinlets to margin for most of length .................................... (3) (2) (1) Tegmina with costal vein marginal, or very narrowly separated, no veinlets to margin along most of length ........................................................................ (3) (4) Vertex twice as long as broad or nearly so (11)
Pseudotangia Metcalf
(4) (3) Vertex relatively shorter ............................................. (5) (5) (6) Vertex as long as broad or slightly longer than broad ................................................................................................... (6) (5) Vertex broader than long
(7)
............................................. (9)




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(7) (8) Frons with an oblique ridge distally on each side of middle .................................... Vanuoides Metcalf (8) (7) Frons with median carina only ...... Ladella Stal (9) (10) Median carina of vertex A-shaped Tangyria Uhler
(10) (9) Median carina simple, not forked basally Tangella Metcalf and Bruner
(11) (12) Vertex as long as pronoturn and mesonoturn, more than twice as long as broad ........................ (13) (12) (11) Vertex produced before eyes but not greatly prolonged anteriorly ...................................................... (13) (14) Vertex with median carina simple to base (15)
Remsa Distant
(14) (13) Vertex with median carina forked basally Rotunosa Distant
(15) (16) Tegmina with one or no transverse line distad of nodal line .............................................................................. (17) (16) (15) Tegmina with numerous irregular cross-veins in membrane ........................................................................... (17) (18) Vertex distinctly longer than broad (25
...............
(18) (17) Vertex not longer than broad
(19)
.,............................... (21)
(19) (20) Tegrnina with a row of subapical areoles dis- .............................. tad of nodal line AtJiestia Melichar
(20) (19) Tegmina with only apical areoles distad of ...... nodal line, no subapical line
Biruga Fennah
(21) (22) Vertex three times as broad as long Colgorma Kirkaldy
(22) (21) Vertex twice as broad as long, or less ......... (23) (23) (24) Species more than 7 mm. long; lateral pronotal fields and mesopleurites green
Neorudia Fennah
(24) (23) Species less than 7 mm. long; lateral pronotal fields at margin and a spot on mesopleurites piceous ...................................................... Amapala Melichar (25) (26) Vertex with median carina simple, unbranched basally .......................................................................................... (27) (26) (25) Vertex with median carina A or A-shaped (33) (27) (28) Frons ecarinate, sides of vertex parallel Pelitropis Van Duzee
(28) (27) Frons medially carinate ............................................. (29)



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56 Psyche [June
(29) (30) Tegmina with M not forked before nodal line; two irregular ranks of transverse veins in mem- ...... brane distad of nodal line Amaclardea Muir (30) (29) Tegmina with M forked before nodal line, more than two ranks of irregular transverse veins in membrane ................................................................................. (31) . ,
(31) (32) Media forking near base of tegmen Monowsis Smnola
L A
(32) (31) Media forking near middle of tegmen New0 tmeta Gugrin-Meneville
(33) (34) Vertex with median carina A-shaped ............ (35) (34) (33) Vertex with median carina A-shaped ............ (39) (35) (36) Vertex longer than broad, directed upward distally ............................................. Dicty ot angia Fennah (36) (35) Vertex not longer in middle line than broad across base ................................................................................. (37) (37) (38) Vertex as broad as long in middle, lateral mar- gins of frons not meeting lateral margins of vertex, a broad callus on anterior margin of vertex ............................................................... Aripoa Fennah (38) (37) Vertex broader than long, lateral margins of frons meeting lateral margins of vertex, an- terior margin of vertex not callussed
Neotaqqia Melichar
(39) (40) Submarginal carinae of pronotum obsolete, re- presented only by a hump, species about 6 mm. long, tawny, marked with spots of darker brown ............................................................... Tangidia Uhler (40) (39) Submarginal carinse of pronotum very sharp, arcuate, species about 8.6 mm. long, uniformly pale green .......................................... Dioxyomus Fennah Ladella St&l
St&l 1859 Bed Ent. Zeit. 3: 319. Haplotype, Monopsis pallida Wlk.
Ladella pallida (Wlk.)
Monopsis pallida "Walker 85. List Hom. 2 : 325. The figures were kindly made by Mr. W. E. China from the type.
It is very distinct from the Puerto Rican species identified as Monopsis pallida by Sthl and figured



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1949 I Fennah-Fulgoroidea 57
by Melichar (1914 Ver. Nut. Ver. Brum 53 : 106). The latter species, based on Stalk labelled specimen in the Berlin collection, requires a new name, for which Ladella stall is now proposed.
Tangella Metcalf and ~runer
Metcalf and Bruner 1930 Psyche 37, 4: 397. Orthotype
Tangia kraut,& Stkl Bed Ent. Zeit. 3: 318. Tangella schaumi (StAl)
Tangia schaumi Stall859 Berl. Ent. Zeit. 3 : 318. Male. Length, 5.6 mm. ; tegmen, 4.9 mm.
Vertex 3.3 times as broad as long in middle line, medi- ally carinate, carina broad, obsolete at apex, simple at base; frons in middle line 1.5 times as long as broad, a broad callus across basal margin, median carina rather broad. Pronotum with disc large, carinse stout, two carinae at each lateral margin between eye and tegula; mesonotum relatively long, lateral carinse of disc parallel in basal half. Tegmina with costal area broad with about 14 transverse veinlets, nodal line straight, Sc + R fork distad of M fork which is distad of Cu 1 fork, none of these veins forked again before nodal line, membrane with five or six irregular ranks of transverse veinlets, about 16 cells adjoining apical margin between node and apex of clavus.
Post-tibiae with three spines.
Anal segment relatively narrow, each lateral angle pro- duced into a spatulate vertical lobe.
Bdeagus laterally
flattened, upcurved distally, a long spine lying below it on left, bent across to right and curved upward at apex, a group of four processes at apex of aedeagus, the basal process sinuate and spinose, the lateral flattened, sym- metrical, pointed distally, the median acicular. Redescribed from a male taken, along with a nymph, on Jost Van Dyke (Feb. 18, 1944).
Tangyria Uhler
Uhler 1901 Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 4.: 512. Haplotype, Tangyria f rontalis Uhl.
Tangyria frontalis Uhler
Uhler 1901 loc. cit.: 512.




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58 Psyche [June
The figures, made by the writer from a female speci- men from Port an Prince, Haiti, in the U. S. National Museum bearing Uhler 's label, are published to facilitate identification of this genus.
Amaclardea Muir
Muir 1931 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (10) 7: 301. Orthotype,
Amaclardea gowdeyi Muir.
Amaclardea gowdeyi Muir
Muir 1931 loc. cit.: 302.
The figures were made by Mr. China from the type. The genus has not yet been reported outside Jamaica. Neurotmeta Guerin-Meneville
Guerin-Meneville 1856 Hist. Fisica. Homopt. : 180. Logo-
type, Neurotmeta sponsa Guerin-Mkneville. Neurotmeta viridis (Wlk.)
Mompsis viridis Walker 1851 List Horn. 2 : 325. ~dea~us with two short spines closely approximated and directed caudad lying adpressed to ventral surface, the spine on left slightly curved laterad at apex; apical portion of eedeagus membranous, with a broad opening on right side, an aciculate porrect sclerotised and pigmented spine near dorsal margin directed caudad, a broad taper- ing process near ventral margin on right, rather flattened, somewhat sclerotised but not pigmented, curved dorsad distally, acute at apex.
The Lesser Antillean representatives of Neurotmeta agree with the species before the writer in all adult struc- tures examined, with the exception of the eedeagal arma- ture, which differs considerably in detail, although con- forming to a standard basic pattern of two or three ventral spines along the ventral margin, and from one to four processes directed caudad on the apical membranous portion.
-
One male and four females and a nymph taken by the writer on Coccoloba uvifera, Virgin Gorda (Feb. 11,



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1944), and one female and two nymphs on the same host, Tortola (Feb. 21,1944). Walker's type from St. Thomas is a female, and the above assignment requires confirma- tion.
Colgorma Kirkaldy
Kirkaldy 1904 Ent. 37: 279.
Orthotype, Achilus dilutus
sta1.
Colgorma diluta (Stal)
Achilus dilutus Stall859 Eugen. Resa. 4: 271. This genus superficially resembles the following, but is readily separated by the tribal character of a relatively long mesonotum. The frons of the type species is longer than broad (1.3 : 1) and medially longitudinally tumid rather than carinate.
Tamgiopsis Uhler
Uhler 1901 Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 4: 512. Haplotype,
Tangiopsis tetrastichus Uhler.
Tangiopsis tetrastichus Uhler
Uhler I901 loc. cit.: 513.
The figures are of the Haitian type in the U. S. Na- tional Museum, and are given merely to illustrate the differences between Tamgiopsis and Colgorma, as no ma- terial of either genus is to hand from the Virgin Islands. Acanalonia Spinola
Spinola 1839 Ann. Soc. Ent. France. (1) 8: 447. Haplo- type, Acanalonia servillei Spin.
Acanalonia depressa Melichar
Melichar 1901 Ann. K. K. Nat. Hist. Hofmus 16, 3: 190, pi. 1, fig. 6.
Bdeagus submembranous, not pigmented, a broad fold laterally on each side near base, narrowing distally into a ribbon-like process which recurves at apex and lies be- low aedeagus to its base, giving off a small S-shaped spine



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60 Psyche [June
laterally, and truncate at apex; remaining portions as figured.
Two males taken by the writer on Jost Van Dyke (Feb. 18, 1944). These specimens differ from Melichar's de- scription and figure only in the profile of the head. Ac- cording to Dr. Paul Oman, material from St. Thomas and St. Croix differs from the Puerto Rican A. brevifrons Muir in being smaller, and having the vertex more sharply declivous, the portion of the head in front of the lateral frontal carinae shorter, the costal margin of the tegmina more strongly curved and the anterior portion of the apical margin more broadly rounded. The male genitalia of the specimen before the writer are very close to those of A. impressa Mete. and Bruner. The species is evidently polyfypic and the taxonomic relationship of its members might be most appropriately expressed by regarding brevifrons and impressa as geographical sub- species.
ISSIDB
Thionia StAl
StAl 1859 Bed. Ent. Zeit. 3: 321. Logotype, Issus low- pennis Spinola 1839 Ann. Soc. Ent. France (1) 8 : 348. Thionia argo sp. n.
Male. Length, 5.8 mm.; tegmen, 4.3 mm. Female. Length, 6.7 mm. ; tegmen, 5.0 mm.
Vertex broader than long in middle line (1.5: I), slightly depressed, anteriorly transverse, posteriorly an- gulately excavate, frons very slightly longer than broad, median carina most prominent in basal half, four callo- sities on each side near margin, lateral discal carinae visible only near base where they curve to unite at mid- dle. Posttibiae bispinose.
Fuscous ; all carinae and margins, parallel oblique striae on clypeus, minute speckling on frons, vertex, pro- and mesonoturn, and sometimes a transverse bar in basal third of frons, and abdominal ventrites testaceous ; sides of head on concealed surface behind eyes and a round spot in each lateral field of pronotum piceous. Tegmina



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translucent, testaceous, marbled with fuscous, though not in basal third of corium, three oval spots in cell R, a similar spot basally and a fainter spot distally in cell M 3 + 4 fuscous-piceous. Veins fuscous-piceous, paler in clavus. Transverse veins mostly pallid.
Anal segment of male elongate-rhomboidal, convex- truncate at apex, anal foramen near middle. Bdeagus
moderately short, tubular, curved upward distally, dorsal margin with an eminence on each side at base and at middle, the latter bearing a short tooth directed caudad, a pair of long spines arising laterally at middle, curved outward, cephalad and finally mesad ; aedeagus distally reflected anteriorly in the form of a trough, striate and membranous. Genital styles short and stout, subtri- angular, expanding distally ; apical process broad, hol- lowed out on its anterior surface, minutely pointed at apex - and with a crescentic plate attached laterally near .
its base.
Anal segment of female very long distad of anal fora- men, deeply rounded at apex.
Nymph with vertex relatively shorter than in adult, the pro- . and - mesotibiae distinctly foliate and post-tibiae four- spined.
Described from four males and seven females and four nymphs taken by the writer on Jost Van Dyke (Feb. 18, 1944).
This species may well prove to be closely allied to the Puerto Rican Thionia borinque'nsis Doz. and the Jamaican Thionia impressa Melichar, though it differs