Myerslopiidae
| Myerslopiidae | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Newly hatched specimen of Mapuchea chilensis from Chile. |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Myerslopiidae | ||||||||||||
| Evans , 1957 |
The Myerslopiidae are a small family of cicadas with distribution in South America and New Zealand.
description
Myerslopiidae are small, ground-living and inconspicuously cryptic colored cicadas with a body length between 3 and 7.5 millimeters. Their physique is short and stocky, heavily sclerotized, the forewings elytra-like reinforced to wing wings, the hind wings missing, rarely shortened to small rudiments. The entire body has rounded, wart-like outgrowths and dense, matt dots, in life it is often enveloped by sticky detritus and thus excellently camouflaged. The rails of the hind legs have coarse thorns arranged in rows.
The species can be distinguished from similar representatives of the Cicadellidae by a pointed process at the base of the mid-hip.
Way of life
All species of the Myerslopiidae live on the ground. They live in the litter of forests or in open habitats such as moors, between mosses. Contrary to previous assumptions, they presumably do not feed on mosses, but on the roots of vascular plant species. They are unable to fly, but have the ability to jump when disturbed.
Systematics and taxonomy
The family comprises just under twenty species in three genera.
- Mapuchea . 3 types, temperate South America: Chile.
- Myerslopia . 6 species, New Zealand.
- Pemmation . 9 species, New Zealand.
The family is basal within the Membracoidea , according to morphological and genetic data it is a sister group of the rest of the Membracoidea. Morphologically, it is considered a mosaic shape that combines the features of the Membracoidea and the Cercopoidea.
The family was reorganized in 1999 by the Canadian entomologist KG Andrew Hamilton, after John William Evans had previously proposed a tribe Myerslopiini and Rauno Linnavuori a subfamily Myerslopiinae. According to the earlier authors, they were counted as one of the Ulopinae, a subfamily of the Cicadellidae (according to another taxonomic view, an independent family Ulopidae). In the earlier view, some Australian and Malagasy species were assigned to the group, these are no longer considered to belong since Hamilton's treatment.
swell
- M.-C. Larivière, MJ Fletcher, A. Larochelle: Auchenorrhyncha (Insecta: Hemiptera): catalog. Fauna of New Zealand 63. Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand, 2010. ISBN 978-0-478-34721-0
- Jacek Szwedo (2004): An annotated checklist of Myerslopiidae with notes on the distribution and origin of the group (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha). Zootaxa 425: 1-15.
- Roman Rakitov (2015): Observations on the Biology and Anatomy of Myerslopiidae (Hemiptera, Membracoidea). Psyche Volume 2015, Article ID 898063, 10 pages doi : 10.1155 / 2015/898063 .
- Jason R. Cryan (2004): Molecular phylogeny of Cicadomorpha (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadoidea, Cercopoidea and Membracoidea): adding evidence to the controversy. Systematic Entomology 30: 563-574. doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-3113.2004.00285.x .
- CH Dietrich (2005): Keys to the Families of Cicadomorpha and Subfamilies and Tribes of Cicadellidae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Florida Entomologist 88 (4): 502-517.
