''Metcalfa pruinosa'', the citrus flatid planthopper, is a species of insect in the Flatidae family 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 first described by Thomas Say in 1830.

Subspecies

* ''Metcalfa pruinosa cubana'' (Metcalf & Bruner, 1948)

Distribution

The species is native to North America (

Nearctic realm The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

), but it is today found throughout Europe ( Austria, Britain, France, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Poland,

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 ...

, and Moldova), in the Neotropical realm and in South Korea.

Description

Adults of ''Metcalfa pruinosa'' can reach a length of and a width of at the widest point.F. W. Mea
Citrus Flatid Planthopper, Metcalfa pruinosa (Say) (Insecta: Hemiptera: Flatidae)
/ref> They are initially whitish. The color of adults may vary from brown to gray, in connection with the presence of a bluish white epicuticular wax, covering especially the nymphs. The large and prominent compound eyes are yellow. The mouthparts are adapted for piercing and sucking. The trapezoidal forewings are held vertically, wrapping the body when the insect is at rest. The front wings have veined costal cell and several characteristic whitish spots. The hind tibiae usually have two lateral spines in addition to the other spines at the apex. Nymphs may reach a length of about . Color varies from whitish to light green, with relative large tufts of white wax on the abdomen. Citrus flatid planthopper nymph

Behavior and ecological impact

The species is univoltine, producing one generation per year. Adults mate in fall during the night. The females lay about 100 eggs, usually in the bark of host plants. Eggs overwinter, hatching the following spring. The adults are seen mainly in summer and fall, when they feed gregariously on sap. When they feed on sap, they eject excess sugar in the form of honeydew. This attracts

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s, which convert it to

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

. As it feeds, it causes serious damages to field crops and ornamental plants. It is polyphagous, feeding on a variety of plant taxa. Host plants include maples,

dogwoods ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shrub ...

, hawthorns, willows, elms, privet, black locust, and

elder An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and tr ...

. It lives on crop plants such as grape, citrus,

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

, peach, blackberry, and

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...

.D. V. Alfor
Pests of Fruit Crops: A Color Handbook
/ref>Gudrun Straus
Pest risk analysis of Metcalfa pruinosa in Austria
/ref>

Gallery

File: Metcalfa pruinosa MHNT larve.jpg, Citrus flatid planthopper larva File: Flatidae - Metcalfa pruinosa - Nymph-001.JPG, Nymph File: Flatidae - Metcalfa pruinosa-000.JPG, Adults, dorsal view File:Metcalfa pruinosa (nymph).jpg, Nymph

Bibliography

*Glover T. (1877) Homoptera in Report of the Entomologist and Curator of the Museum, Report of the United States Commissioner of Agriculture. Washington, D. C., 1876: 17-46 *Metcalf Z.P. (1957) Part 13. Flatidae and Hypochthonellidae, In: Metcalf Z. P. 1954 - General Catalogue of the Homoptera. Fascicule IV, North Carolina State College, Raleigh(United States of America). p. 1-565. *Pavel Lauterer (2002) Citrus Flatid Planthopper - Metcalfa pruinosa (Hemiptera: Flatidae), a New Pest of Ornamental Horticulture in the Czech Republic. In: Plant Protection Science. Vol. 38, No. 4, 2002, S. 145–148 *Say T. (1830) Descriptions of new North American Hemipterous insects, belonging to the first family of the section Homoptera of Latreille, Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 6: 235-244. *Schaum H.R. (1850) Fulgorellae. Erster Section A-G. In: Ersch I. S. & Gruber I. G. 1850 Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Kunste in alnhaberischen folge von Genannten Schriftstellern bearbeitet und herausgegeben, 51. p. 58-73.

References

External links

Biolib

Animal Diversity
*Santi, F. and S. Maini

Facoltà di Agraria Università di Bologna. (Italian) {{Taxonbar, from=Q887032 Flatidae Insects described in 1830 Taxa named by Thomas Say Agricultural pest insects Hemiptera of North America