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Epiptera opaca (Say) ranges from Quebec south to Georgia and west to Ontario and Mississippi; it has also been recorded from British Columbia (Beirne 1950, Wilson and McPherson 1980). This achilid has been associated with pines (Hepburn 1967); otherwise no information on the biology of this species is available. Based on observations of E. fusca (Walker), Hepburn (1967) noted that the immature stages of all species of Epiptera probably live beneath the loose bark of dead trees, presumably feeding on fungal hyphae

Wilson, Stephen W

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Stephen W Wilson

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 (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Achilidae)

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Description of the Fifth Instar of \u3ci\u3eEpiptera Opaca\u3c/i\u3e (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Achilidae)

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The Great Lakes Entomologist Volume 16 Number 1 - Spring 1983 Number 1 - Spring 1983 Article 2 April 1983 Description of the Fifth Instar of Epiptera Opaca (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Achilidae) Stephen W. Wilson California State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle  Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Stephen W. 1983. "Description of the Fifth Instar of Epiptera Opaca (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Achilidae)," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 16 (1) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol16/iss1/2 This Peer-Review Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 1983 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST DESCRIPTION OF THE FIFTH INSTAR OF EPIPTERA OPACA (HOMOPTERA: FULGOROIDEA: ACHILIDAE) Stephen W. Wilson 1 Epiptera opaca (Say) ranges from Quebec south to Georgia and west to Ontario and Mississippi; it has also been recorded from British Columbia (Beirne 1950, Wilson and McPherson 1980). This achilid has been associated with pines (Hepburn 1967); otherwise no information on the biology of this species is available. Based on observations of E. fusca (Walker), Hepburn (1967) noted that the immature stages of all species ofEpiptera probably live beneath the loose bark of dead trees, presumably feeding on fungal hyphae. The immatures of E. opaca have never been described. Fennah (1950) illustrated a fifth instar nymph of E. fusca but provided no description; Osborn (1922) illustrated and briefly described the fifth instar nymph of E. slossoni (Van Duzee); and Linnavuori (1951) illus­trated and described the fifth instar nymphs of two species f Cixidia. To my knowledge, there are no other published descriptions or illustrations of immature Achilidae. The following description is based on two nymphal E. opac  collected with four adult males in a sawdust pile in southern Illinois. The collecting data for the specimens arc: Oblong, Illinois, 4 August 1958, G. T. Riegel collector, in sawdust pile. DESCRIPTION OF FIFTH INSTAR Measurements of the pinned nymphs were made with an ocular micrometer. Body length was measured from the tip of the vertex to the tip of the abdomen; width was measured across the widest part of the body; thoracic length was measured along the midline from the anterior margin of the pronotum to the posterior margin of the metanotum. Fifth instar (Fig. 1). Length 7.01-7.05 mm; thoracic length 2.35-2.45 mm; width 3.50­3.51 mm. Form elongate, dorsoventrally flattened, widest across mesonotal wingpads. Body dark brown with yellowish markings. Head dark brown, yellow medially on vertex. Vertex subquadrate, narrowing apically, anterior comers rounded, weakly carinate anterior and lateral margins. Frons subrec­tangular, narrowing slightly apically, slightly longer than wide, broadest just beneath eyes, lateral margins subparallel to slightly convex, each lateral margin carinate (outer carina) with an irregular inner carina present in anterior half on each side ca. 2/3 the distance from midline to lateral carina; notched medially at frontoclypeal juncture; with two irregular rows of pits between inner and outer carinae. Clypeus narrowing distally, consisting of a sub­conical, basal postclypeus and an elongate, subconical distal anteclypeus. Beak apparently 3-segmented, extending to 3rd abdominal sternite; segment 1 covered by anteclypeus, seg­ment 2 ca. 1 JIi-2 times length of 3. Eyes dark reddish-brown, somewhat reduced. Antennae with scape reduced, ring-like; pedicel lacking sensoria, ca. 3 times length of scape; distal flagellum whip-like with base bulbous. Thoracic nota with a longitudinal, median carina, dark-brown with yellowish markings; divided by a longitudinal mid-dorsal line into three pairs of plates. Pronotum with anterior margin broadly rounded, posterior margin slightly sinuate; each plate subtriangular, with an oblique longitudinal carina in median 1/2 extending from anterior margin almost to posterior margin and bordered medially and posteriorly by a row of six pits; with a slightly sinuate 1 Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Chico, CA 95929. Present address: Department of Biology, Central ~Missouri State University, Warrensburg. MO 64093. 1Wilson: Description of the Fifth Instar of <i>Epiptera Opaca</i> (HomoptePublished by ValpoScholar, 19832 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 16, No.1 Fig. L Fifth instar of E. opaca. Vertical bar 1.0 mm. oblique longitudinal carina in lateral 1/3 extending from near anterior margin to posterior margin and bordered by a row of indistinct pits laterally. Mesonotum with median length ca. 2 times that of pronotum; each plate with a weak longitudinal oblique carina near midline, with a slightly convex longitudinal carina in median 1/3, and a weak longitudinal oblique carina in lateral 1/3; with a row offour pits just lateral to convex carina and several indistinct pits median and lateral to lateralmost carina; wingpad extending almost to tip of metanotal wingpad. Metanotum with median length ca. 2/3 that of mesonotum; each plate with a slightly convex longitudinal carina  median 1/3; wingpad extending to 3rd abdominal tergite. Pro- and mesocoxae elongate, dorsoventrally flattened; metacoxae smaller, hidden behind enlarged cup-like trochanters; remaining segments of legs bearing short setae. Metatibia with one black-tipped spine in distal 1/2 of shaft and a row of seven black-tipped spines at apex. Pro- and mesotarsi 2-segmented, segment I wedge-shaped, segment 2 sub­conical and curved with a pair of slender brown claws and pale pulvillus apically. Metatarsi 3-segmented, segments 1 and 2 each bearing an apical row of seven black-tipped spines ventrally, segment 3 similar to segment 2 of other legs. Abdomen 9-segmented. Tergites 4-9 each with a row of indistinct pits laterally on either side; tergites 6-8 each with a large yellowish dorsal ovoid waxpad on either side, wax pads occupying from ca. 1/2 area of tergite to almost all of tergite; tergites 5-9 each with a pit on either side in median 1/3. Segment 9 with ergite curving around ventral sides, surrounding anus. ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to thank Dr. G. T. Riegel, Department of Zoology, Eastern Illinois Univer­sity, Charleston, for the loan f specimens. 2The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 16, No. 1 [1983], Art. 2https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol16/iss1/21983 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 3 LITERATURE CITED Beirne, B. P. 1950. The Canadian species of Epiptera (Homoptera: Achilidae). Canadian Entomol. 82: 186-190. Fennah, R. G. 1950. A generic revision of Achilidae. Bull. British Mus. (Natur. Hist.) Entomol. 1:3-170. Hepburn, H. R. 1967. Notes on the genus Epiptera (Homoptera: Achilidae). J. Georgia Entomol. Soc. 2:78-80. Linnavuori, R. 1951. Hemipterological observations. Ann. Entomo!. Fenn. 17:51-65. Osborn, H. 1922. Life history hotes on Cranberry Lake Homoptera, New York State Coll. For. Tech. Pub!. 16:87-104. Wilson, S. W. and J. E. McPherson. 1980. The distribution of the Fulgoroidea of the eastern United States (Homoptera). Trans. Illinois Acad. Sci. 73(4):7-20. 3Wilson: Description of the Fifth Instar of <i>Epiptera Opaca</i> (HomoptePublished by ValpoScholar, 1983

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Description of the Fifth Instar of \u3ci\u3eEpiptera Opaca\u3c/i\u3e (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea: Achilidae)

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