Hephathus achilleae Mityaev, 1967

Tishechkin, D. Yu., 2022, New and interesting records of Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera) in European Russia, Russian Entomological Journal 31 (3), pp. 234-248 : 239

14. Hephathus achilleae Mityaev, 1967

Figs 46–51.

DISTRIBUTION. Northern part of Western Europe, European Russia, northern and eastern Kazakhstan, the southern part of Western Siberia [ Tishechkin, 1999, 2015b].

RECORDS. Many localities in the central and southern parts of European Russia [for details see Tishechkin, 1999, 2015b].

REMARKS. In the steppes of southeastern regions of European Russia, often was found in the same biotopes with H. nanus or H. freyi (Fieber, 1868) .

Differs from H. nanus and H. freyi in strongly developed black pattern on face. Two round black spots in the upper part of the face almost always merge with other elements of black pattern, the lower half of the face always black in the middle, the light areas along eyes comparatively narrow.

15. Hephathus freyi (Fieber, 1868)

Figs 52–57.

H. unicolor (Lindberg, 1926) (synonymy by Tishechkin, 1999) H. tshakaranus Dlabola, 1957 (synonymy by Tishechkin,2015b)

DISTRIBUTION.Mediterranean ( Spain, southern France, North Africa), Southern Ukraine, southeastern regions of European Russia, Transcaucasia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Central Asia.

RECORDS. Many localities in Rostov, Saratov, Volgograd, and Astrakhan Oblasts [for details see Tishechkin, 1999, 2015b].

REMARKS. In spite of the fact that H. freyi is widespread and fairly common in the Lower Volga Region, we did not find records of this species from European Russia in the faunistic lists.

Specimens of H. freyi from Russian populations differ from H. achilleae and H. nanus in light upper part of face and wide light areas along eyes. Specimens with strongly developed black pattern are known only from Central Asia [ Tishechkin, 2015b].