''Confuga'' is a genus of

planthopper A planthopper is any insect in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, a group exceeding 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment ...

s in the family

Cixiidae The Cixiidae are a family of Fulgoroidea, fulgoroid insects, one of many families commonly known as planthoppers, distributed worldwide and comprising more than 2,000 species from over 150 Genus (biology), genera. The genera are placed into thre ...

. Its only species is ''Confuga persephone'', a

troglobitic A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

(cave-dwelling)

that is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only known species of cave-dwelling planthopper in New Zealand. The species was first described by

Ronald Gordon Fennah Ronald Gordon Fennah (1910 – 19 August 1987) was an English entomologist who specialised in the systematics of the Fulgoroidea and worked in the Caribbean Islands and at the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology. Fennah was born in Ludlow and ...

in 1975, from specimens found in a cave east of

Tākaka Tākaka is a small town situated at the southeastern end of Golden Bay, at the northern end of New Zealand's South Island, located on the lower reaches of the Tākaka River. State Highway 60 runs through Takaka and follows the river valley b ...

, in the South Island of New Zealand.

References

External links

* ''Confuga persephone'' discussed in

RNZ Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

Critter of the Week ''Critter of the Week'' is a weekly RNZ National programme about endangered and neglected native plants and animals of New Zealand. Beginning in 2015, ''Critter of the Week'' is an approximately 15-minute discussion between Nicola Toki of the ...

''
29 July 2022
Endemic fauna of New Zealand Oecleini Taxa described in 1975 Insects described in 1975 {{Auchenorrhyncha-stub