''Dictyophara europaea'', common name European lantern fly, is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

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 belonging to the subgenus ''Dictyophara (Dictyophara)'': in the family

Dictyopharidae Dictyopharidae is a family of planthoppers, related to the Fulgoridae. The family comprises nearly 760 species in more than 150 genera which are grouped into two subfamilies, Dictyopharinae and Orgeriinae. Description Like all other fulgoroi ...

, and tribe Dictyopharini.

Etymology

The scientific genus name

Dictyophara ''Dictyophara'' is the type genus of planthoppers belonging to the family Dictyopharidae Dictyopharidae is a family of planthoppers, related to the Fulgoridae. The family comprises nearly 760 species in more than 150 genera which are grouped ...

derives from the Greek (dictyon: net and phorein: wear) and can be translated "who wears a net". The common name ''European lantern fly'' is actually derived from a species (''

Fulgora laternaria The fulgorid insect ''Fulgora laternaria'' (often misspelled "lanternaria"), is a planthopper known by a large variety of common names, among them lantern fly, peanut bug, peanut-headed lanternfly, alligator bug, jequitiranaboia, machaca, chicha ...

'') belonging to another family ( Fulgoridae).

Subspecies

*''Dictyophara europaea rosea'' Costa, 1862

Distribution

This species can be found in most of Europe, in North Africa and in the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

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Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

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Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

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Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

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Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

Habitat

These insects occurs in dry grasslands and warm open areas.

Description

Dictyopharidae - Dictyophara europaea var

''Dictyophara europaea'' can reach a body length of about . These planthoppers have an ovoidal light green body and a conical head extended forward with two strong longitudinal keels and a middle keel converging to the tip. Also the pronotum shows a middle keel and two lateral keels. The forewings are about the same size as the hind wings. Wings are transparent (hyaline) with rich green veining. The distal part of the fore wings has a network formed by the veins. The larvae are similar to the

imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the f ...

in color, shape and head shape. The rarer subspecies ''Dictyophara europaea rosea'' shows a pinkish body.

Biology

Adults can be found from June to October. These insects live among herbaceous plants feeding on sap. The eggs are deposited by the female in the soil and thereby individually covered with earth by special structures of the ovipositor. These planthoppers can communicate with conspecifics by vibration signals. This species is univoltine and

polyphagous Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

. The main recorded host plants belong to the family of

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

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Achillea millefolium ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...

'', ''

Crepis foetida ''Crepis foetida '' is a European species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae with the common name stinking hawksbeard. It is widespread across much of Europe and Siberia, as well as being sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in t ...

'', ''

Sonchus asper ''Sonchus asper'', the prickly sow-thistle, rough milk thistle, spiny sowthistle, sharp-fringed sow thistle, or spiny-leaved sow thistle, is a widespread flowering plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. Description ''Sonchu ...

''),

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

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Agropyron repens ''Elymus repens'', commonly known as couch grass, is a very common perennial species of grass native to most of Europe, Asia, the Arctic biome, and northwest Africa. It has been brought into other mild northern climates for forage or erosion cont ...

'', ''

Setaria viridis ''Setaria viridis'' is a species of grass known by many common names, including green foxtail, green bristlegrass, and wild foxtail millet. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of ''Setaria italica''. It is native to Eurasia, but it is known o ...

''),

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

('' Amaranthus retroflexus''),

Ranunculaceae Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...

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Clematis vitalba ''Clematis vitalba'' (also known as old man's beard and traveller's joy) is a shrub of the family Ranunculaceae. Description ''Clematis vitalba'' is a climbing shrub with branched, grooved stems, deciduous leaves, and scented greeny-white flo ...

'') and

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

('' Linaria vulgaris'').

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10471789 Dictyopharidae Hemiptera of Africa Hemiptera of Asia Hemiptera of Europe Insects described in 1767 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus