| Genus Platybrachys
Stål 1859: 280 Type species: Aphana lanifera Stål 1854 (by original designation) Note on the genus: Jerôme Constant, Belgium, has demonstrated that the species grouped together under this genus represent a number of different genera. Once he has completed his revision, the genus Platybrachys will be more strictly defined and several new genera will have been created. To date, Kirkaldybrachys Constant, with two species in northern Australia, has been described. "It can be recognised by the following combination of characters: (1) tegmina and hind wings not convex, (2) frons less than 2 times broader than long, (3) hind wings brown without white marking, (4) first fork of M close to base, (5) first fork of Cu at about half of tegmen" (Constant 2006). Biology: The planthoppers in the Platybrachys genus group include some of the most familiar eurybrachids in Australia and are commonly found running up, down or sideways around the trunks of eucalypt trees. The nymphs can also be found in this situation. Hacker (1924) described the life history of P. leucostigma, including information on egglaying, the anal appendages of the nymphs and natural enemies of the species. He also provided black and white photographs of P. leucostigma, P. maculipennis and P. decemmacula. There is evident sexual dimorphism exhibited by these species. Two species of the complex are recorded from outside of Australia although one of these records must be considered doubtful. P. barbata (Fabricius) was listed by Gmelin (1789) from India which is a highly unlikely locality for a genus which is otherwise so restricted. P. leucostigma was described, as P. aerata n.sp by Distant (1892: 282), from Qld and Samoa. All other species of the Platybrachys complex are only known from Australia.
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Document 6831, submitted 08 April 2007 © State of New South Wales through NSW Department of Primary Industries 2007Top of page | Related titles |
