Species Colgaroides acuminata (Walker, 1851)

Colgaroides acuminata (Walker), adult

© Copyright Murray Fletcher. Orange Agricultural Institute.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Poeciloptera acuminata Walker, F. 1851. List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum (Natural History) Vol. 2 pp. 261-636 [460].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH sex unknown (presented by the Haslar Hospital; holotype by monotypy), New Holland
  Comment: Medler (1990) noted that the abdomen of the holotype is mutilated.
• Cromna frontalis Melichar, L. 1902. Monographie der Acanaloniiden und Flatiden (Homoptera) (Fortsetzung). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Hofmus in Wien 17: 1-253 [59].

  Type data:

   Lectotype NHRM ♂ (coll: Thorey), Rockhampton, Queensland.
  Paralectotype(s) RIB ♂, Palmerston, Northern Territory; NHRM ♀ (coll: Thorey), Rockhampton, Queensland.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Medler, J.T. 1986. The types of Flatidae (Homoptera) in the Stockholm Museum described by Stål, Melichar, Jacobi and Walker. Entomologica Scandinavica 17: 323-337 [328].
• Colgaroides circumcincta Jacobi, A. 1928. Results of Dr E. Mjöberg's Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910-1913. Rhynchota, Homoptera. 1. Fulgoridae und Cercopidae. Arkiv för Zoologi 19A(28): 1-50 [21].

  Type data:

   Lectotype NHRM ♂ (November), Kimberley district, Western Australia.
  Paralectotype(s) NHRM 1 ♂, 5 ♀ (coll.: Jan., Feb. or Nov.), Kimberley district, Western Australia; SMTD 2 ♂, 1 ♀, Kimberley district, Western Australia.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Medler, J.T. 1986. The types of Flatidae (Homoptera) in the Stockholm Museum described by Stål, Melichar, Jacobi and Walker. Entomologica Scandinavica 17: 323-337 [326].

Introduction

This species is variable in colour and size but the male genitalia indicates that the variants do not represent different taxa. The species is usually pale green with a small red dot in the middle of the tegmen but there may be more or less red colouring. It is called the mango planthopper because it is commonly collected on mango and can cause development of sooty mould on leaves and fruits. It is not known to transmit any pathogens. Medler (2001) recorded it on Jambolan plum, Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels (Myrtaceae), from Bamaga, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, and the species may have other native plant hosts.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Distant, W.L. 1910. Rhynchota Malayana. Part III. Records of the Indian Museum 5: 313-338 [325] (synonymy of Cromna frontalis Melichar)
• Medler, J.T. 1986. The types of Flatidae (Homoptera) in the Stockholm Museum described by Stål, Melichar, Jacobi and Walker. Entomologica Scandinavica 17: 323-337 [326] (synonymy of Colgaroides circumcincta Jacobi)

Generic Combinations

• Colgaroides acuminata (Walker, 1851). — Distant, W.L. 1910. Rhynchota Malayana. Part III. Records of the Indian Museum 5: 313-338 [325].

Distribution

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pine Creek (PCK), Wet Tropics (WT)

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N coastal
  • Queensland: NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • Western Australia: NW coastal
• East Timor
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
  • Sumba
• Papua New Guinea

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder.

Diagnosis

Body pale greenish yellow; head triangular, pointed, slightly ascending; crown a little broader than long, bordered by a rim, with a middle ridge; frons flat, widening towards the epistome, slightly rounded on each side, bordered by a rim, much longer than broad, very slightly concave where it joins the epistoma, with five ridges, the inner pair very short, the outer pair slightly curved; epistoma rather long, slightly convex; tip of the mouth brown; fore-chest truncate or angular on each side in front, slightly concave behind, with a ridge in the middle which is not longer than each side; middle-chest with three ridges, more than thrice the length of the fore-chest; abdomen obconical, a little longer than the chest; legs yellow; wings broad; fore-wings pale green, truncated at the tips which form slightly obtuse angles with the hind borders, the latter are tuberculated and slightly dilated towards the base; longitudinal veins green, not numerous; cross-veins tawny, rather numerous; fore border almost straight, along it a row of oblique parallel cross-veins which are shorter and more apart towards the tip, hind-wings whitish. Length of the body 3 lines; of the wings 11 lines (Walker 1851).

Vertex : pronotum lengths ratio ♂1.41, ♀ 1.44 (Medler 2001).

ID Keys

Medler 2001: 19

Diagnosis References

Medler, J.T. 2001. Flatidae of New Guinea and adjacent areas (Homoptera: Flatidae). Bishop Museum Bulletin in Entomology 8: 1-117 [20]

General References

Medler, J.T. 2001. Flatidae of New Guinea and adjacent areas (Homoptera: Flatidae). Bishop Museum Bulletin in Entomology 8: 1-117 [20]