Philagra Stal 1863

Genus Philagra Stål, 1863

Chalepus Walker, 1851: 731.

Type species: Chalepus hastatus Walker, 1851, by subsequent designation of Distant, 1908: 107. Preoccupied by Chalepus Thunberg, 1805.

Philagra Stål, 1863: 593; Distant, 1908: 107; Metcalf & Horton, 1934: 399; Metcalf, 1962: 571.

Type species: Philagra douglasi Stål, 1863, designated by Metcalf and Horton, 1934: 399.

Diagnosis. Species of Philagra Stål can be distinguished by the following combination of characters: body relatively slender and elongate, medium to large-sized, covered with fine, short, silvery setae (Figs 1, 2, 5); head relatively narrow, conically produced in front of eyes into a cephalic process as long as or longer than pronotum and scutellum combined, usually curving dorsad (Figs 1, 2, 4A–C, 5, 7A,B); pronotum wider than head; scutellum relatively large, usually about half as long as pronotum; antennae with expanded flagellar base (Figs 3A–E) hidden in apical cavity of pedicel and not visible in lateral aspect, bearing two peg-like basiconic sensilla and a few coeloconic sensilla on surface (Figs 3A–E); rostrum short, not passing trochanters of middle legs; forewings usually large, coriaceous, with venation indistinct, costal margin usually strong convex, widest about level of apex of scutellum, with apical angle acuminate; venation inconspicuous, M and Cu fused basally, with 3 preapical cells of similar width; legs relatively robust and short, posterior tibia short and stout, with two stout spines on lateral edge, the distal larger than the proximal, second segment of hind tarsus bilobed with median lobe usually longer than lateral lobe; male pygofer in lateral view short, cylindrical (Figs 4D, 6A–D, 7C); anal segments and anal style elongate (Figs 4D, 6A–D, 7C); subgenital plates relatively large, narrow, acuminate, and elongate, base fully fused with pygofer, tapering from base to dorsally recurved apex, fully covering genital styles and aedeagus in ventral view, with a strong recurved process at apical margin (Figs 4D,E, 6A–D, 7C,D); genital style elongate, usually forked or excavated apically, with upper edge subapically strongly excavated in lateral view (Figs 4D,F, 6A,E–G, 7C,E); aedeagal shaft slender, tubular, moderately long, nearly perpendicular, apex usually with two spinose processes directed postero-ventrad; gonopore subapical dorsally (Figs 4G,H, 6E–G, 7F,G) (Metcalf & Horton 1934; Liang & Fletcher 2003).

Biology. In common with most spittlebug groups, currently no biological data are available for Philagra species. The nymphs of Philagra species produce conspicuous masses of cuckoo-spit on shrubs and small trees (Liang & Fletcher 2003).

Distribution. India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia (Batjan, Halmahera), and Australia (Metcalf 1962; Liang & Fletcher 2003).

Notes on the type species of the genus. Metcalf and Horton (1934) discussed the question of a type species for Philagra. They regarded Stål's (1863: 593) description of Philagra as the creation of a new genus rather than a replacement name for Chalepus Walker, which was preoccupied. Stål (1863) appeared to have been unaware of Walker's genus Chalepus and described Philagra as a new genus with two new species, P. douglasi and P. scotti, neither of which was designated as type species. Metcalf and Horton (1934) rightly pointed out that a type species for such a new genus needed to be designated from those species placed in the genus by the original author. As Stål (1863) had failed to designate a type species, Metcalf and Horton (1934) selected the first of the two species included in the genus by Stål (1863) as the type. Other authors have followed Distant (1908) who selected Chalepus hastatus Walker as the type on the assumption that Stål's name simply replaced Walker's preoccupied name but, as pointed out by Metcalf and Horton, this was not the case and C. hastata cannot be considered available for designation as type species of Philagra (Liang & Fletcher 2003).

Schmidt (1920) established the tribe Philagrini to accommodate Philagra. Three genera, Philagra, Interocrea Walker, 1870 and Grellaphia Schmidt, 1920 were included in the world catalogue of the family Aphrophoridae (Metcalf, 1962). Philagrini is obviously not a monophyletic group and the phylogenetic position of the tribe needs to be investigated cladistically.