Broad Issidae - Paralixes scutatus

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Hoppers (Auchenorrhyncha) » Planthoppers (Fulgoromorpha) » Fulgoroidea » Issid Planthoppers (Issidae) » incertae sedis » Paralixes » Paralixes scutatus

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Copyright © 2015 Chuck Sexton

Broad Issidae - Paralixes scutatus

Cold Springs Camp, Uvalde County, Texas, USA
April 5, 2013

I have been struggling to identify this interestingly shaped bug. It is relatively small--I didn't get a measurement but I recall it being about 5mm long. It has broad, oval, opaque, mottled FWs with reticulate venation; the hind tibia have four lateral spurs, and the vertex is quite broad. I'm comfortable that it is an Issid planthopper, and the closest match I can get with a detailed review of the Univ. of Delaware Issidae web site is the genus Paralixes. It also somewhat resembles Mike Quinn's example of Misodema from Wild Basin which has recently been moved to the Tropiduchidae (?).

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Contributed by Chuck Sexton on 21 August, 2015 - 1:56pm
Last updated 26 August, 2017 - 1:26pm

Moved tentatively; nice find -- great call, too

thanks for the great addition to the guide
i'll seek expert confirmation

Moved from Issid Planthoppers.

… v belov, 21 August, 2015 - 7:03pm

ID confirmed by C. Bartlett:

"Yes it is, with the caveats that the genus is rare enough in collections that the intraspecific variation is not well studied and there is the possibility that there are unrecorded species in the U.S.- described or otherwise. That one however looks like the scutatus I have seen.
"The size was probably a little bigger than that (i.e. 5mm): 6 mm anyway if male, 7+ if female, which is not really all that small to me.
"A good find."

… v belov, 25 August, 2015 - 3:06pm

Many thanks!

...as always! ;-)

… Chuck Sexton, 21 August, 2015 - 9:38pm

Paralixes sp.

I made the assumption that the hind wings were rudimentary and also came up with Paralixes. I however haven't seen much of the SW fauna in person. I think we can rule out Traxus based on the mesonotum carinae not being on raised structures.

… Lawrence Barringer, 21 August, 2015 - 2:09pm

Thanks for a prompt reply!

Good information. Issidae are a tough crowd (of bugs)!

… Chuck Sexton, 21 August, 2015 - 2:13pm

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