Balclutha punctata (Fabricius)

Zahniser, James N., Halbert, Susan E., Moore, Matthew R., Mottern, Jason L. & Beuzelin, Julien M., 2023, Balclutha jafara (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae): integrative identification of a species introduced in the Western Hemisphere, and notes on other Balclutha, Zootaxa 5361 (4), pp. 526-554 : 542

Balclutha punctata (Fabricius)

Balclutha punctata (Fabricius) is considered to be a very widely distributed species, encompassing the Holarctic, Oriental, and Australian regions. However, opinions differ on how the species should be defined. The type specimens were considered to be lost (see Blocker, 1967), and based on that assumption, Blocker (1967) designated a neotype specimen from Germany. That action has been disputed by various European workers. For example, Webb & Vilbaste (1994) stated that Blocker’s designation was inappropriate and noted that Fabricius’ (1775) description was based on specimens described and named (non-binomially) by Geoffroy (1762), and that the type specimens could still exist in Geoffroy’s collection. Nickel (2003) stated that Blocker’s neotype was misidentified and is a specimen of Balclutha rhenana (Wagner) , currently considered a valid Palearctic species (contra Hamilton [1983] who considered B. rhenana a syn. of B. punctata ). It is likely that Blocker did not know of the existence of B. rhenana since he did not include the name as a synonym of B. punctata . Ossiannilsson’s (1983) key to species and figures of Balclutha from Scandinavia are useful for separating B. punctata and B. rhenana . Hamilton (1983) also disagreed partly with Blocker’s interpretation of B. punctata . While Blocker (1967) considered B. manitou (Gillette & Baker) a synonym of B. punctata, Hamilton (1983) considered it a valid species. In summary, Blocker’s neotype designation was apparently in error and his concept of the species is different from the preponderance of workers, but B. punctata sensu Ossiannilsson 1983 is currently considered to occur in the United States and widely in the Eastern Hemisphere. Clearly, more careful work is needed to sort out the taxonomy of B. punctata and related species, including reference to the external characters and male genitalia, and ideally in combination with molecular barcode data.