Arthropoda Baker 1923

Stenometopiini Baker, 1923

Fig. 54

Type genus: Stenometopius Matsumura, 1914 (= Hodoedocus Jacobi, 1910).

= Stirellini Emeljanov, 1966.

Diagnosis

Stenometopiini are small to medium sized, often brightly colored or iridescent leafhoppers. They can be identified by the narrow crown, shagreen texture of the crown, clypellus parallel-sided or tapering apically, forewings often submacropterous to brachypterous, male pygofer sloping caudoventrally and with few macrosetae and often with a distinct lateral tooth, female ovipositor protruding far beyond the pygofer apex, first valvula dorsal sculpturing granulose to maculose and submarginal, first valvula with distinctly delimited ventroapical sculpturing, and second valvula without dorsal teeth.

Description

HEAD. Head subequal to or wider than pronotum; sometimes strongly produced or elongate. Crown narrow; discal portion of crown shagreen. Anterior margin of head shagreen, rarely sharply angulate or foliaceous if head is elongate. Frontoclypeus not tumid, texture shagreen. Clypellus parallel-sided or tapering apically, apex slightly surpassing normal curve of gena. Lorum distinctly narrower than clypellus near base. Antennal bases near middle or posteroventral (lower) corners of eyes. Mesial margin of eyes notched in frontal view. Antennae short, less than 1.5 x width of head. Gena obtusely incised laterally; with fine erect seta beside laterofrontal suture. Antennal ledges absent. Ocelli present; close to eyes; on anterior margin of head.

THORAX. Pronotum lateral margin not carinate; lateral margin shorter than basal width of eye.

WINGS. Forewing macropterous to brachypterous; appendix reduced, absent, or restricted to anal margin; with 3 anteapical cells; veins not raised; usually without reflexed costal veins; A1-A2 crossvein absent; apical venation not highly reticulate.

LEGS. Profemur with AM1 seta only; intercalary row with one row of five or more fine setae; row AV with short, stout setae. Protibia dorsal surface rounded, convex. Metafemur apex macrosetae 2+0, 2+1, 2+2, or 2+2+1. Metatarsomere I not expanded apically; plantar setae simple, tapered.

MALE GENITALIA. Valve articulated with pygofer; lateral margin short, articulating with pygofer at a point. Pygofer sloping caudoventrally; basolateral membranous cleft absent, not membranous; macrosetae absent or reduced (≤ two rows); often with distinct short tooth laterally. Subgenital plates often short, rounded; free from each other; articulated with valve; without macrosetae or macrosetae uniseriate laterally or uniseriate distant from lateral margin. Style broadly bilobed basally, median anterior lobe pronounced and usually extending anterad of lateral lobe. Basal processes of the aedeagus/connective absent or reduced. Aedeagus with single shaft and gonopore; often whip-like, long and narrow. Connective anterior arms somewhat divergent, Y -, U - or narrowly V -shaped; articulated with aedeagus.

FEMALE GENITALIA. Pygofer with macrosetae reduced or absent. Ovipositor protruding far beyond pygofer apex. First valvula not strongly convex; dorsal sculpturing pattern granulose or maculose; sculpturing submarginal; with ventroapical sculpturing distinctly delimited, long and triangular. Second valvula gradually broadened medially or subapically; without dorsal median tooth; teeth absent.

Geography and ecology

Distribution: cosmopolitan. Stenometopiini feed on grasses or sedges and often abundant in grassland ecosystems.

Remarks

Stenometopiini contains 8 genera and 96 species. Based on some morphological characters (Zahniser 2008a) and on phylogenetic analyses, the tribe appears to be most closely related to Chiasmini or to some other grass-specialist groups including Eupelicini, Drakensbergenini, and Evinus Dlabola, 1977. Most of the species are included in two genera: Doratulina, which contains only Old World species, and Stirellus, which contains both Old World and New World species. Historically, taxonomists have been inconsistent or unclear in their reasoning for their placement of species in these genera. The distinction between the two genera is therefore unclear (see Zahniser & Nielson 2012 for further discussion), but both are retained pending further study.

Proekes Theron, 1975 and Proekoides Stiller, 1986 were previously listed in the tribe by Oman et al. (1990) but share no similarities to the tribe and are here transferred to Bonaspeiini.

Selected references

Vilbaste (1965), Emeljanov (1966, 1968), Linnavuori (1979b), Dmitriev (2004b), Zahniser (2008a), Zahniser & Nielson (2012).

Included genera

Anaconura Emeljanov, 1999

Anemolua Kirkaldy, 1906

Doratulina Melichar, 1903

Giffardia Kirkaldy, 1906

Hodoedocus Jacobi, 1910

Kinonia Ball, 1933

Paivanana Distant, 1918

Stirellus Osborn & Ball, 1902