Machaerotidae

Machaerotidae are a family of bugs in the superfamily Cercopoidea which were formerly grouped with the other cercopids. They are sometimes called as tube-forming spittle-bugs as the nymphs form a calcareous tube within which they live. These bugs are mainly found in the Old World tropics. The adults of many genera have a long, free and spine-like process originating at the scutellum and thus superficially similar to the tree-hoppers, Membracidae. Its tegmen or forewing, like typical bugs of the suborder Heteroptera, always has a distinct, membranous apical area.

Machaerotidae
Machaerota ensifera
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Auchenorrhyncha
Superfamily: Cercopoidea
Family: Machaerotidae
Stål, 1866

Like other cercopoids, these are xylem-sap feeders.[1] The nymph extracts calcium from the xylem fluid and constructs a calcareous tube from Malphigian gland secretions[2] on some woody dicotyledons and immerses itself in a rather clear fluid excretion inside the tube. The tube strongly resembles the shell of certain serpulid sea worms or helicoid land snails and contain no less than 75% calcium carbonate. This habit is quite uncommon in the class Insecta and markedly different from that of typical cercopoids or spittlebugs, which make and live in a froth mass either below or above ground.[3] Machaerotids produce foam only when they emerge from the tube to moult. There are about 115 species in 31 genera placed in 4 tribes. The majority of species are found in Southeast Asia with a small number for Africa. They were traditionally separated into two subfamilies Machaerotinae which have the scutellar spine and Enderleiniinae which lack it. A third family, also lacking the spine, Apomachaerotinae, was introduced in 2014. The scutellum has a "tail" or appears raised towards the posterior end.[4]

 
 

Membracoidea

 
 
 

Cicadoidea

 
Cercopoidea
 
 

Machaerotidae

 
 

Clastopteridae

 
 
 
 

Cercopidae

 
 

Aphrophoridae (including Epipygidae)

 
 
 
 
 
Relationships with other groups.[5]

A list of the subfamilies, tribes and genera is as follows:[4]

  • Apomachaerotinae
    • Apomachaerota Schmidt, 1907
    • Serreia Baker, 1927
  • Machaerotinae
    • Maxudeini
      • Blastacaen Maa, 1963
      • Conditor Distant, 1916
      • Maxudea Schmidt, 1907
    • Machaerotini
      • Dianmachaerota Nie & Liang, 2009
      • Grypomachaerota Schmidt, 1907
      • Irridiculum Hamilton, 2014
      • Machaerota Burmeister, 1835
      • Platymachaerota Schmidt, 1918
      • Romachaeta Maa, 1963
      • Sigmasoma Schmidt, 1907
      • Tapinacaena Maa, 1963
  • Enderleiniinae
    • Hindoloidini
      • Aphrosiphon China, 1935
      • Hindoloides Distant, 1915
      • Kyphomachaerota Bell & Cryan, 2013
      • Trigonurella Maa, 1963
    • Enderleiniini
      • Aecalusa Maa, 1963
      • Allox Hamilton, 2014
      • Chaetophyes Schmidt, 1981
      • Enderleinia Schmidt, 1907
      • Hindola Kirkaldy, 1900
      • Labramachaerota Bell & Cryan, 2013
      • Labrosyne Maa, 1963
      • Machaeropsis Melichar, 1903
      • Makiptyelus Maki, 1914
      • Neuroleinia Lallemand, 1936
      • Neuromachaerota Schmidt, 1912
      • Pectinariophyes Kirkaldy, 1906
      • Polychaetophyes Kirkaldy, 1906
      • Taihorina Schumacher, 1915

References
  1. Newby, R. C. (1980). "The Use of Insects for Sampling Xylem Sap". Annals of Botany. 45 (2): 213–215. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a085814. ISSN 0305-7364. JSTOR 42761313.
  2. Rakitov, Roman A. (2002). "Structure and Function of the Malpighian Tubules, and Related Behaviors in Juvenile Cicadas: Evidence of Homology with Spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea & Cercopoidea)". Zoologischer Anzeiger - A Journal of Comparative Zoology. 241 (2): 117–130. doi:10.1078/0044-5231-00025.
  3. Maa, T.C. (1963). "A Review of the Machaerotidae (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea)" (PDF). Pacific Insects Monographs. 5: 1–166.
  4. Bell, Adam J.; Svenson, Gavin J.; Cryan, Jason R. (2014). "The phylogeny and revised classification of Machaerotidae, the tube-making spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cercopoidea): Phylogeny and classification of Machaerotidae". Systematic Entomology. 39 (3): 474–485. doi:10.1111/syen.12066.
  5. Cryan, Jason R. (2005). "Molecular phylogeny of Cicadomorpha (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadoidea, Cercopoidea and Membracoidea): Adding evidence to the controversy". Systematic Entomology. 30 (4): 563–574. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2004.00285.x.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.