Telamonini

Wallace, Matthew S., 2014, The host plants of the Telamonini treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Smiliinae) and the first diagnoses of nymphs for 14 species, Zootaxa 3878 (2), pp. 146-166 : 155-156

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3878.2.2

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9AA56D9F-FBAA-4947-9ECA-C4C7569890BD

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03E09018-F905-FFC8-FF6D-FD12CA66FC3F

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Telamonini
status

 

Telamonini host plants: trends and patterns

The Telamonini (adults and nymphs combined) are known from 22 families, 41 genera, and 80 species (includes two subspecies) of plants ( Table 1). Of those, 36% are various oak species (n=29). Most of the plants are woody, deciduous (or semi-deciduous) trees, shrubs, or vines with the exception of Eupatorium (thoroughwart), Solidago (goldenrod), Verbena , and Vernonia (ironweed) which are herbaceous plants. Considering the paucity of telamonine treehoppers recorded from these four plant species, they are unlikely hosts. Telamonine nymphs were collected and observed from 23 plant species while nymphs have been reared to adults on 15 plant species. Quercus alba (white oak, for Heliria fitchi ), Q. palustris (pin oak, for Archasia pallida ), Q. rubra (red oak, for Telamona compacta ), Q. stellata (post oak, for A. belfragei ), and Q. velutina (black oak, for Helonica excelsa ) are new host plant records, and Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) is the first host plant record for Telamona woodruffi .

Most Telamonini species have been collected from multiple host plant species and/or genera. Of 68 telamonine total species, 32 have been collected from more than one plant genus and only 12 species are known from a single host plant species: Carynota maculata View in CoL , Heliria clitella View in CoL , H. cornutula View in CoL , H. strombergi View in CoL , Palonica nogalana View in CoL , P. tremulata View in CoL , Telamona ampelopsidis View in CoL , T. calva View in CoL , T. dorana View in CoL , T. gibbera View in CoL , T. woodruffi View in CoL , and Telamonanthe turbinella View in CoL . Palonica deserta View in CoL and Telamona balli View in CoL are only documented from a single plant genus. Six telamonine species have 15 or more recorded host plants species: Archasia auriculata View in CoL (16 hosts), Archasia belfragei View in CoL (18), Glossonotus univittatus View in CoL (19), Palonica pyramidata View in CoL (15), Telamona decorata View in CoL (15), T. monticola View in CoL (29), and T. unicolor View in CoL (15). The large number of hosts documented for these treehoppers may be an artifact of certain variables rather than evidence of polyphagy. First, some of the records may be the result of misidentifications of treehoppers or plants or both. Second, many of the records are from adult captures and thus may not be true host plants. Third, most of the above species are very commonly collected telamonines in the eastern U.S., as documented by other studies ( Mason and Loye 1981b; Wallace 2008; Wallace and Maloney 2010), and therefore a large amount of biological data have accumulated for each (suggesting individuals of the more abundant species are more likely to end up occasionally on the wrong host). The telamonine with the most documented host plants, Telamona monticola View in CoL , is among the more commonly collected treehoppers ( Funkhouser 1917; Ball 1931; Beirne 1961; Mason and Loye 1981b; Loye 1982).

Although oaks comprise only 36% of the total telamonine host plant species diversity, it is clear that many Telamonini rely on oaks for food and shelter during their development, as previously indicated by other researchers ( Wood and Olmstead 1984; Wallace 2011). Nymphal telamonines were reared to the adult stage on 10 different oak species in this study. Of 68 telamonine species, 45 (66%) have been documented on at least one oak species. This close insect/host relationship is no more evident than in the genus Telamona View in CoL , where only two species are not recorded from oak: T. ampelopsidis View in CoL and T. calva View in CoL . Further, the seven plant species hosts to 10 or more treehopper species are all oaks ( Table 1): Quercus alba View in CoL (white oak) (29 treehopper species), Q. bicolor View in CoL (swamp white oak) (10), Q. ilicifolia View in CoL (bear or scrub oak) (13), Q. macrocarpa View in CoL (burr oak) (20), Q. montana View in CoL (chestnut oak) (11), Q. rubra View in CoL (northern red oak) (15), and Q. velutina View in CoL (black oak) (17). White oak is the most common telamonine host plant based on the results of this study and is also the host to numerous species within the closely related tribe, the Smiliini ( Dietrich et al. 1999; Wallace 2008). Moreover, 10 of the 29 telamonine species on white oak were reared as nymphs on this plant to the adult stage.

Further evidence of the telamonine preference for oaks is seen in the low number of telamonine species found on non-oak plants. Of the 51 non-oak host plant species, 38 are hosts for only one or two Telamonini species while just six plant species are hosts to five or more telamonine species. Moreover, telamonine nymphs have been collected, observed, or reared from only 15 non-oak species. Among these non-oak plants, Castanea dentata (American chestnut) and Tilia americana (American basswood) are hosts to the largest number of telamonine species with seven and six, respectively. Nevertheless, the number of plant families (21) and genera (39) that telamonines use as hosts is notable. Further collecting and rearing of nymphs on a diversity of woody hosts may reveal additional host plants for many telamonine species.

Are telamonines generalists or specialists with respect to oak? Certainly, more nymphs need to be collected and/or reared on oak species before this question can be properly addressed. It is also unclear if some telamonines are specialists on either the white oak (e.g.: Q. alba , Q. montana ) or red oak (e.g.: Q. ilicifolia , Q. rubra , Q. velutina ) group, a pattern seen in some Smiliini ( Wallace 2008; Wallace and Maloney 2010). The data presented here suggest that some telamonines (especially Telamona ) may be generalists with respect to oaks. Based on the host plant list above, clearly most Telamona oak feeders have been found on more than one oak species. For example, T. monticola is documented from 18 oak species, and its nymphs have been reared from six oak species (both white and red oak group); T. decorata has been found on 12 oak species, and nymphs have been reared on four oak species.

No host plant information has been documented for the following telamonine species: Heliria gemma , Palonica satyrus , Telamona archboldi , T. celsa , T. coronata , T. ruficarinata , T. tarda , T. vestita , and Telonaca ramona . This work is a starting point in identifying the host plants for Telamonini treehoppers. It is hoped this paper will inspire collectors to find the host plants of the unknowns above and to identify new host plant records for the Telamonini and other treehoppers by focusing on collection of the nymphs in addition to the adults. Further, numerous unknown nymphal species collected from various oak species were not successfully reared to the adult stage. Thus, continued collecting and rearing activities should add host plant and taxonomic information about the Telamonini .

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hemiptera

Family

Membracidae

Loc

Telamonini

Wallace, Matthew S. 2014
2014
Loc

Palonica deserta

Plummer 1936
1936
Loc

Telamona balli

Plummer 1936
1936
Loc

Telamonanthe turbinella

Jorgensen 1935
1935
Loc

Palonica nogalana

Ball 1933
1933
Loc

T. calva

Ball 1933
1933
Loc

T. calva

Ball 1933
1933
Loc

T. dorana

Ball 1931
1931
Loc

Heliria clitella

Ball 1925
1925
Loc

H. cornutula

Ball 1925
1925
Loc

T. gibbera

Ball 1925
1925
Loc

T. woodruffi

Ball 1925
1925
Loc

Carynota maculata

Funkhouser 1915
1915
Loc

Telamona decorata

Ball 1903
1903
Loc

H. strombergi

Goding 1893
1893
Loc

Archasia belfragei

Stal 1869
1869
Loc

T. unicolor

Fitch 1851
1851
Loc

Telamona

Fitch 1851
1851
Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF