Issidae

Issidae
Issus species
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Superfamily: Fulgoroidea
Family: Issidae
Spinola, 1839
Subfamilies

see text

Issidae is a family of planthoppers described by Spinola in 1839, belonging to the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha superfamily Fulgoroidea.

Issid nymph

Species of this family are present throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

Issidae are small insects generally with a stocky body, as the wings mainly develop in width. Basic body coloration is not striking, usually shows brownish colors. The head has two ocelli. The forewings have strong pronounced ribs. They wrap the abdomen when the insect is at rest. The family includes approximately 1000 species with 215 genera, but the systematics of Issidae remains uncertain, with some of the subfamilies having been recently removed to a separate family, Caliscelidae.

In 2013, scientists described a biologically unique set of mechanical gears in an Issus nymph, though identical structures are known in most planthoppers, and were known for decades[1] before the function of the gears was discovered[2]

List of subgroups

The family Issidae was once large and included many groups which are now treated as families in themselves. These groups include the Caliscelidae and the Acanaloniidae (with subfamilies Acanaloniinae, Tonginae, and Trienopinae). Around 2003, the treatment is in favour of a single subfamily Issinae Spinola, 1839 with five tribes Issini, Parahiraciini, Hemisphaeriini, Thioniini, and Colpopterini.[3]

References

  1. K. Sander. 1957. Bau und Funktion des Sprungapparates von Pyrilla perpusilla WALKER (Homoptera - Fulgoridae). Zool. Jb. Jena (Anat.) 75, 383–388
  2. Burrows, Malcolm; Sutton, Gregory (2013-09-13), "Interacting gears synchronize propulsive leg movements in a jumping insect", Science 341 (6151): 1254-1256, doi:10.1126/science.1240284, lay summary ScienceNews.org
  3. Gnezdilov, Vladimir M. (2002). "A new tribe of the family Issidae with comments on the family as a whole (Homoptera: Cicadina)" (PDF). Zoosystematica Rossica 11 (2): 305–309.

External links

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