European lantern bearer

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European lantern bearer
Dictyophara europaea

Dictyophara europaea

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Schnabelkerfe (Hemiptera)
Subordination : Pointed-head cicadas (Fulgoromorpha)
Family : Dictyopharidae
Genre : Dictyophara
Type : European lantern bearer
Scientific name
Dictyophara europaea
( Linnaeus , 1767)
Dictyophara europaea
Dictyophara europaea , larva
Dictyophara europaea var.rosea , larva
Specimen from the Munich State Zoological Collection

The European lantern bearer ( Dictyophara europaea ) is a heat- loving Palearctic cicada species with occurrences as far as southern Central Europe.

features

The animals reach a body length of 9 to 13 millimeters. They are mostly monochrome, light green, but as a rarer deviation there are also red animals ( var. Rosea). The fore wings are about the same size as the hind wings, the membrane delicate and transparent (hyaline) with rich green veins that form numerous cells towards the tip. The shape of the head is conspicuous and important for the determination. This is drawn out towards the front between the eyes in a conical, tapering extension, this is about three times as long as at the base when viewed from above. It has two strong longitudinal keels that converge towards the tip and a central keel. The pronotum has a central keel and two side kills, which are indistinct in the rear half, it is clearly sunk between the keels. The mesonotum also has three straight keels above. The legs are of moderate length, the hind legs noticeably longer and stronger than the front pairs of legs. The rails (tibia) of the hind legs have six on the outside and a group of seven strong thorns with black tips at the tip. Such thorns are also present on the first two links of the tarsi.

In Germany and the northern parts of Central Europe, the species is the only representative of its family and is unmistakable due to its characteristic head shape. In Austria, two other, quite similar species of the genus must be expected. In Dictyophara pannonica the head extension is longer, straight cylindrically elongated and rounded at the end, not pointed. Dictyophara multireticulata is slightly larger (13 to 14 millimeters), the head extension is shorter (vertex a little more than twice as long as it is wide) and the forewings are veined with smaller cells towards the tip.

The larvae (also called nymphs because they have no special larval organs) resemble the imagines in terms of color, shape and head shape . They carry a pore plate on the tergites 6 to 8 of the abdomen, from which wax threads can be deposited. Differentiating features to the other types of the genus are: The fore legs have several teeth on the outer edge in the tip part. The third tergite of the abdomen has sensory dimples. The side keels on the apex of the head (called coryphe or vertex) are slightly curved inwards at both ends.

etymology

The name lantern bearer is actually derived from another species of the family, the "lantern bearer " Fulgora laternaria . This South American species became known early on in Europe, among other things through the engravings by Maria Sibylla Merian . This has a bubble-shaped head extension which, according to the reports of some of the early explorers, would supposedly glow so brightly that one could read. In our way the name has been transferred without a comparable legend having existed. The scientific generic name Dictyophara means freely translated "who wears a net (garment)" (from Greek: dictyon: net and phorein: to carry).

Biology and way of life

Dictyophara europaea is polyphagous and has been found in a large number of nutrient plants without specific preferences being recognizable. The species is, at least in Central Europe, very warmth-loving and occurs only in warm, open habitats such as dry grasslands , it has even been suggested as one of the character species for this habitat type. It is important that there are areas with open, bare ground. It is not very sensitive to human impairments, it even occurs often in ruderally influenced, partially degraded dry grasslands. It also occurs in urban (urban) living spaces with a corresponding structure, for example in the cities of Berlin and Warsaw.

The species has one generation per year ( univoltin ) and overwinters in the egg stage. The eggs are laid in the ground by the female and, due to the special structures of the ovipositor, are individually wrapped in soil. Adults are observed in Central Europe from mid-July to mid-October.

The jumping ability of this species has been studied in detail. The European lantern bearer can jump about a meter wide and a meter high, about a hundred times the body length. This record-breaking ability to jump is made possible by an arched skeletal structure, the so-called pleural arch, in which muscle energy is stored , similar to a tense arrow bow , which can then be released explosively; the rear legs are suddenly stretched out synchronously (in just two milliseconds). Take-off speeds of around 4 meters per second are achieved. The powerful trochanter muscles provide driving energy. Similar to the jumping ability of fleas , the elastic protein resilin plays an important role in storage .

Dictyophara europaea can communicate with conspecifics through vibration signals. The sound produced, which is inaudible to humans, is described as a trill of even pulses lasting about three seconds.

distribution

Dictyophara europaea lives in the Mediterranean area, in North Africa and southern Europe and southern Central Europe, eastwards via Turkey, Iran, southern Russia and Central Asia to the east as far as Xinjiang in northern China, but there is no evidence from the part of northern Russia that is adjacent to this north. It is also absent in Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Great Britain, the Baltic States and the Netherlands, but occurs in Belgium and Belarus . In Germany there is evidence from all federal states except Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen, Hamburg and Saarland, although it is becoming increasingly rare towards the northwest. In Austria, the evidence concentrates on the low-lying areas in the east and the Danube valley, which are favored by heat. In Germany and Carinthia it is listed as "endangered" (category 3) on the red list .

Taxonomy

The species was first described by Linnaeus as Fulgora europaea . It is a type of the genus Dictyophara . The genus includes about 40 species, all of which are distributed in the Palearctic region, with a distribution focus in the southwest. Dictyophara europaea forms with D.asiatica , D.lindbergi and D.subsimilis the subgenus Dictyophara s. st.

Economic importance

The European lantern bearer can transmit plant pathogenic bacteria of the genus Phytoplasma as a vector from plant to plant when sucking . Since the cicada is very polyphagous and also occurs regularly on some cultivated plants, it can reduce the yield. It has only been known for a few years that, as a vector , it can transmit the dreaded yellowing disease golden yellow to grapevines . It probably takes up the phytoplasms during the act of sucking on common clematis in the vicinity of the vine cultures. Corresponding damage is primarily relevant in the Mediterranean region, particularly in Italy and the Balkan countries. In Central Europe, the species plays no role as a pest.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Wolfgang Schedl (2004): The distribution and ecology of Dictyopharidae in Austria and neighboring countries (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Denisia 13: 115-120.
  2. ↑ a b Zhi-Shun Song & Ai-Piing Liang (2008): The Palaearctic Planthopper Genus Dictyophara Germar, 1833 (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Dictyopharidae) in China. Annales Zoologici 58 (3): 537-549. doi : 10.3161 / 000345408X364364
  3. ↑ a b Reinhard Remane & Ekkehard Wachmann: Get to know cicadas, observe. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg, 1993. ISBN 3-89440-044-7
  4. ↑ Samuel Schilling: Detailed natural history of the animal, plant and mineral kingdom. Volume 3. Animal Kingdom: Fish and the Invertebrate Animals. Verlag von Heinrich Richter, Breslau, 1841. P. 467: The Surinamese lantern bearer preview at Google Books
  5. ↑ Herbert Nickel (2013): On the etymology of the cicada names of Central and Northern Europe. Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae biologicae (Brno) 98 (2): 273-315.
  6. ↑ Hans Schiemenz (1987): Contributions to the insect fauna of the GDR: Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha (Cicadina, Insecta). Part I: General, species list, superfamily Fulguroidea. Faunistic treatises, Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden Volume 15, No. 8: 1-105. Dictyophara europaea p.96-97.
  7. ↑ H.Nickel, WE Holzinger, E. Wachmann (2002): Central European habitats and their cicada fauna (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Denisia 4 (also catalogs of the Upper Austrian. Provincial Museum, new series no. 176): 279-328.
  8. ^ Gernot Kunz, Herbert Nickel, Rolf Niederinghaus: Photo atlas of the cicadas in Germany. Scientific book distribution Fründ, 2011. ISBN 978-3-939202-02-8
  9. ↑ Nora Lange: The influence of landscape context on the diversity of cicadas (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) in urban wastelands. Diploma thesis, University of Oldenburg, 2006.
  10. ↑ Malcolm Burrows (2014): Jumping mechanisms in dictyopharid planthoppers (Hemiptera, Dicytyopharidae). Journal of Experimental Biology 217: 402-413. doi : 10.1242 / jeb.093476
  11. ↑ D. Yu Tishechkin: Vibrational communication in Cercopoidea and Fulguroidea (Homoptera: Cicadina) with notes on classification of higher taxa. Russian Entomological Journal 12 (2): 129-181.
  12. ^ Emine Demir (2008): The Fulgoromorpha and Cicadomorpha of Turkey. Part 1: Mediterranean Region (Hemiptera). Munis Entomology & Zoology Vol. 3, No. 1: 447-522.
  13. ↑ GA Anufriev & AF Emeljanov: Suborder Cicadinea (Auchenorrhyncha). In: AS Lelej, EV Kanyukova, ZA Konovalova, S.Yu. Storozhenko: Keys to the Insects of the Far East of the USSR in six Volumes. Volume II: Homoptera and Heteroptera. (Transliteration of the Russian title: Opredelitel 'nasekomykh Dal'nego Vostoka SSSR v shesti tomakh. Vol. 2. Ravnokrylye i poluzhestkokrylye.). Nauka, Leningrad 1988. translated US Department of Agriculture, 2001
  14. ↑ Janusz Nast (1987): The Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera) of Europe. Annales Zoologici 40 (15): 1-661.
  15. ↑ Oleg Borodin (2004): A checklist of the Auchenorrhyncha of Belarus (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha et Cicadomorpha). Contributions to Cicada 7: 29-47.
  16. ↑ Herbert Nickel & Reinhard Remane (2003): Directory of the cicadas (Auchenorrhyncha) of the federal states of Germany. Entomofauina Germanica 6: 130-154.
  17. ↑ Herbert Nickel, Werner Witsack and Reinhard Remane (1999): Red List of Cicadas in Germany (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha) - habitats, risk factors and comments on the area. Contributions to cicada lore 3: 13-32.
  18. ↑ Alexander F. Emeljanow (2003): The subgeneric division of the genus Dictyophara Germar, 1833 (Homoptera: Dictyopharidae). Russian Entomological Journal 12 (4): 357-358.
  19. ↑ Filippin, L., Jović, J., Cvrković, T., Forte, V., Clair, D., Toševski, I., Boudon-Padieu, E., Borgo, M., Angelini, E. (2009) : Molecular characteristics of phytoplasmas associated with Flavescence dorée in clematis and grapevine and preliminary results on the role of Dictyophara europaea as a vector. Plant Pathology 58: 826-837. doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-3059.2009.02092.x

Web links

Commons : Dictyophara europaea  - collection of images, videos and audio files