Clastoptera Germar 1839
Creators: name: Andrew Hamilton, K. G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Clastopteridae
Clastoptera

description: Clastoptera Germar, 1839: 187.
Type-species by subsequent designation (Van Duzee 1917): C. achatina Germar.
Distribution. Nearctic and neotropical.
Diagnosis. Head short and broad (Fig. 1 D), as wide as pronotum, or nearly so; crown with transverse carina between eyes; antennal ledge with 1–3 setae in a vertical row before antennal pit; postpedicel with 2 lanceolate sensilla arising in shallow and broad circular depression at tip of antenna (Fig. 20C); pronotum usually transversely striate (Figs 6 A–B) or without grooves; tegmen with small bulla in outer apical cell and with disc containing anteapical cells more or less inflated with obsolete venation (Fig. 3 B); tegminal appendix broad and folded transversely, and as in Iba, and hind wing venation with first apical cell much smaller that other 2 such cells, also as in Iba. Male subgenital plates absent, sternal component slit at least half way to base; theca slender, curved, unarmed; style tip strongly curved dorsad, entire or bifid (Doering 1928, pls 25–27). Length: 2.5–5 mm.
Included species. The many Neotropical species of this genus are in need of revision; 53 are catalogued (Metcalf and Wade 1962 b) but this is only a partial list. It should include C. maculipennis (Spinola, comb. nov. from Penthimia, see Fig. 1 E) and C. maculosa (Walker, comb. nov. from Philaenus) and there are probably many undescribed species as well because the critical female characters have never been examined in the Neotropical fauna.
Thirty Nearctic species were revised by Doering (1928). This study was the first “modern” revision of a complex North American genus of “Homoptera.” It combined biological data with a thorough morphological treatment of adults of both sexes in a taxonomic synthesis that has stood the test of time as a remarkable example of sound biosystematic judgment. For example, it is the first publication in Hemiptera where the characters of the ovipositor are utilized and prove to be more important than male genitalic characters. The quality of this work is revealed when one considers that it was produced at a time when dissections for male genitalic characters were just starting to be used, and long before "new systematics" was championed by Mayr, or Hennig's "cladistic analysis" had been conceived. Subsequent work has revealed only minor additions and corrections to this fauna (Hamilton 1977, 1978).
One species from the Neotropics has been incorrectly recorded from Arkansas (Doering 1930) and Pennsylvania (Wheeler and Kramer 1983); it is here described as a new species along with a distinctive new species on wild grape.
Clastoptera laevigata sp. nov.
Clastoptera laevata [sic] Fowler: Doering 1930 (misidentification).
Clastoptera laenata Fowler: Wheeler and Kramer 1983 (misidentification).
Etymology. A noun in apposition, from its host name Celtis laevigata Willd., hackberry.
Diagnosis. Described and illustrated by Wheeler and Kramer (1983). Distinguished from true C. laenata by 4 black spots on crown (Fig. 1 D) instead of 3 on antennal ledges and tylus (Fowler 1897, pl. 12, fig. 25), and by much smaller ovipositor saw (Fig. 10 D).
Types. Holotype ♀, U.S.A.: Univ. of Tenn. Agric. campus, Knox Co., Tennessee, 15–17 July 1982 (A.G. Wheeler) on Celtis laevigata. Paratypes: 3♂♂, 2♀♀, same data as holotype; 1♂, Reelfoot Lk., Tenn., 2 June 1954 (D.J. & J.N. Knull); 1♀, 1 mi SE Ecru, Pontotoc Co., Mississippi, 16 July 1980 (W.H. Cross) on hackberry; 1♂, Hershey, Dauphin Co., Pennsylvania, 30 June 1981 (A.G. Wheeler) on Celtis occidentalis; 3♀♀, same data, N of Newville, Cumberland Co., 20 Aug. 1980, 2 July and 13 July 1981; 1♀, same data, Benns Church, Isle of Wight Co., Virginia, 12 June 1983. Holotype and 6 paratypes No. 21112 in CNCI; 4 paratypes in Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Bureau of Plant Industry, Harrisburg; 2 paratypes in USNM.
Remarks. This species feeds on hackberry (Celtis spp.); true C. laenata feeds on cacao (Theobroma cacao) according to Garcia-Martell (1974). Another undescribed species of Clastoptera in eastern U.S.A. has been reported from grapes (S. Moorman 2013) that also has 4 spots on the crown, but these spots are brown rather than black and another 4 such spots are found on the anterior margin of the pronotum.
Clastoptera octonotata sp. nov.
Etymology. octo, eight; notata, spotted (adj.).
Diagnosis. Distinguished from C. laevigata by the spots on the crown being brown rather than black and another 4 such spots are found on the pale anterior margin of the pronotum (Fig. 1 C). Face ivory with dark crossband; tegmen with a broad white diagonal band across clavus, otherwise mottled brown with obscure paler areas, at most with a black streak at midlength of costa and dark apical veins. Tylus subequal in length to median length of vertex; pronotum with transverse grooves numbering 11 across midline. Male genitalia as in C. lawsoni Doering with male subgenital plates rounded and style tips short and strongly curved, bearing a triangular process on inner surface (Doering 1928, pl. 26, fig. 5). Ovipositor saw 0.75 mm long, shaped as in C. achatina (Doering 1928, pl. 22, fig. 4a) but distal tooth obsolete, leaving only one prominent tooth at midlength of dorsal margin. Length: ♂ 3.7–3.8 mm, ♀ 3.8–4.2 mm.
Types. Holotype ♀, U.S.A.: Gray Court, South Carolina, USA, Oct. 2013 (S. Moorman). Paratypes: 3♂♂, 8♀♀, same data as holotype. Holotype and 6 paratypes No. 24200 in CNCI; 4 in USNM.
Remarks. This series was photographed (BugGuide # 837444) on 5 Sept. 2013 and again (#839989-90) on 10 Sept. 2013 and sampled from Muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia). Other photographs of this species were taken by K. Kittelberger on 31 Aug. 2013 (BugGuide # 886742, -45, -47, -51) at Lake Gaston, NC, and at Durham, NC (Fig. 1 C). This species is most closely related to the western C. lawsoni which also feeds on wild grapes.
description: Published as part of Andrew Hamilton, K. G., 2015, A new tribe and species of Clastopterinae (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Clastopteridae) from Africa, Asia and North America, pp. 151-189 in Zootaxa 3946 (2) on pages 158-162, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3946.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/233167