Gimena Dellapé

Proconiini Sharpshooters of Argentina, with notes on its distribution, host plants, and natural enemies

Abstract The American tribe Proconiini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae) is one of the largest groups of xylem-feeding insects and includes the majority of the known vectors of xylem-born phytopathogenic organisms. The significance of the pathogens that this group transmits gives them an important role as pests, mostly for citrus fruit, grapes, and almonds. Knowledge of these Hemiptera in Argentina is insufficient and fragmentary. Thus one of the aims of this paper is to summarize the available information of the Proconiini sharpshooters in Argentina. In addition, 14 species are mentioned for the first time in the country, and new distributional data are given for 18 species. Thirty-four new associations between sharpshooters and host plants are recorded. New records of egg parasitoids are given for Dechacona missionum, Molomea consolida, M. lineiceps, and Tapajosa similis.

New Records on the Geographical Distribution of South American Sharpshooters (Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae: Proconiini) and their Potential as Vectors of Xylella fastidiosa

Wells et al. 1978, which occurs only in the xylemof plants (Marucci et al. 2002).Strains of X. fastidiosa cause diseases such as“Pierce’ s Disease” (PD) in grape ( Vitis vinifera L.),“Phony Peach Disease” (PPD), “Coffee LeafScorch” (CLS), “Oleander Leaf Scorch” (OLS), and“Citrus Variegated Chlorosis” (CVC) among oth-ers. These incurable maladies produce substan-tial economic losses in a diverse variety of crops(Hernandez-Martinez et al. 2006).In South America the major threat is CVCwhich has spread rapidly throughout Brazil(Lopes 1996). X. fastidiosa is also present inUnited States, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Para-guay, Uruguay, Argentina (Redak et al. 2004), andCosta Rica (Aguilar et al. 2005). However, CVC isnot yet reported from the USA although it has thepotential to threaten orange (

Diversity of Cicadomorpha (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) in Citrus Orchards in Northeastern Argentina

ABSTRACT Among phytophagous insects, the Cicadomorpha are important economically because they damage crops by sucking plant sap and by transmitting plant pathogens, such as Spiroplasma citri and Xylella fastidiosa to citrus. In Argentina little knowledge exists about this subject. The aim of this work was to study the diversity of Cicadomorpha associated with citrus orchards in Entre Ríos province, and their seasonal fluctuation in relation with climatic and phenological conditions. A total of 1,554 specimens belonging to 28 species of Cicadomorpha were collected with yellow sticky traps in sweet orange (Citrus × sinensis (L.) Osbeck) and tangerine (Citrus unshiu Marc) orchards. The Shannon index and the Simpson index suggested a similar trend in the distribution of the dominant species in both crops. In the orange orchard, Cicadomorpha populations increased in the summer coincidently with temperature increases. On the other hand, a significant increase in abundance during the winter months was coincident with increase of early sprouts of the citrus plants. Entre Ríos province represents a new distribution record for 13 species. Tangerine is a newly recorded host-plant for 16 species studied, and eight species are reported for the first time on ‘Valencia Late’ orange.

Terrestrial Heteroptera (Hemiptera) from Moconá Provincial Park (Misiones, Argentina)

Mocona Provincial Park was created to protect the Paranaense forest including the Mocona Falls Natural National Monument. Knowledge of the insect fauna in the park is scarce and the Heteroptera have never been studied. In this work, 134 species from 17 families of Heteroptera collected in Mocona Provincial Park and surrounding areas included in the Yaboti Biosphere Reserve, are listed. The reduviids Arilus gallus (Stal, 1872), Repipta taurus (Fabricius, 1803), and Zelus nugax Stal, 1862; the tingids Leptodictya (Hanuala) paspalii Drake & Hambleton, 1934, and Leptopharsa vittipennis (Stal, 1873); the coreids Camptischium niger (Stal, 1870), Leptoglossus ingens (Mayr, 1865), Chariesterus cuspidatus Distant, 1892 and Cebrenis supina Brailovsky, 1995; the pentatomids Alveostethus pseudopolitus (Ruckes, 1957) and Dryptocephala integra Walker, 1867; and the blissid Xenoblissus lutzi Barber, 1954 are first records from Argentina.

The fate of endemic insects of the Andean region under the effect of global warming

Three independent but complementary lines of research have provided evidence for the recognition of refugia: paleontology, phylogeography and species distributional modelling (SDM). SDM assesses the ecological requirements of a species based on its known occurrences and enables its distribution to be projected on past climatological reconstructions. One advantage over the other two approaches is that it provides an explicit link to environment and geography, thereby enabling the analysis of a large number of taxa in the search for more general refugia patterns. We propose a methodology for using SDM to recognize biogeographical patterns of endemic insects from Southern South America. We built species distributional models for 59 insect species using Maxent. The species analyzed in the study have narrow niche breadth and were classified into four assemblages according to the ecoregion they inhabit. Models were built for the Late Pleistocene, Mid-Holocene and Present. Through the procedure developed for this study we used the models to recognize: Late Pleistocene refugia; areas with high species richness during all three periods; climatically constant areas (in situ refugia); consistent patterns among in situ refugia, Pleistocene refugia and current distribution of endemic species. We recognized two adjacent Pleistocene refugia with distinct climates; four in situ refugia, some of which are undergoing a process of fragmentation and retraction or enlargement. Interestingly, we found a congruent pattern among in situ refugia, Pleistocene refugia and endemic species. Our results seem to be consistent with the idea that long-term climate stability is known to have a key role in promoting persistence of biodiversity in an area. Our Pleistocene and in situ refugia are consistent with refugia identified in studies focusing on different taxa and applying other methodologies, showing that the method developed can be used to identify such areas and prove their importance for conservation.

Biodiversity of Coreoidea and Pentatomidae (Heteroptera) from Atlantic forest protected areas. Insights into their conservation.

Although the majority of threatened species are likely to be tropical insects, knowledge of the diversity, ecological role and impact of insect biodiversity loss on ecosystem processes is very limited. Specimens belonging to four families of Heteroptera: Pentatomidae, Coreidae, Alydidae and Rhopalidae, were collected from a protected area in the Paraná Forest, the largest ecoregion of the Atlantic Forest, in Argentina. The assemblages were characterized and the biodiversity estimated, and they were compared with the assemblages found in five other protected areas in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. In our study area, Pentatomidae had the greatest richness and diversity; Coreidae was the second most diverse family, with highest sampling deficit, highest percentage of singletons, and lowest inventory completeness; and Rhopalidae was the best sampled family with asymptotic rarefaction curves. We explored the application of the Species Conservation Importance index, following four criteria, to evaluate the relative importance of the pentatomid species studied and its usefulness for assigning conservation values to areas. We found similar Site Conservation Values among the six areas and noted that the use of criteria was limited by the lack of information, being crucial to increase the knowledge of most of the species.

Diversity of leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) in experimental rice lots and associated weeds in Buenos Aires province, Argentina

We identified the species of Cicadellidae associated with rice fields from an agricultural experimental station of La Plata city, Argentina, and explored the diversity pattern of the leafhopper assemblage. Insects were obtained from rice and surrounding weeds between 2006 and 2010. Syncharina argentina (Berg) and Agalliana ensigera Oman were the most abundant species in rice and weeds, respectively. Diversity (H′), heterogeneity (D) and evenness (J) indices were estimated. There was a significant effect of crop cycle (2006 to 2010) and host plant (rice and weeds) on H′ and D, with the interaction between them being not significant. Evenness was similar in rice lots and weeds, but differed between crop cycles. The pattern of abundance of species within rice lots and weeds followed the logarithmic model. Possible explanations for this pattern are discussed. The importance of the presence of some species as vectors of plant pathogens is highlighted.

Diversity of true bugs from Iguazú National Park, Argentina

We list all taxa identified to species level, belonging to 18 families of Heteroptera: Reduviidae (63 species), Tingidae (9 species), Alydidae (6 species), Coreidae (39 species), Rhopalidae (11 species), Largidae (1 species), Pyrrhocoridae (4 species), Acanthosomatidae (1 species), Pentatomidae (58 species), Scutelleridae (3 species), Berytidae (1 species), Blissidae (5 species), Colobathristidae (2 species), Cymidae (1 species), Ninidae (1 species), Lygaeidae (6 species), Pachygronthidae (1 species), and Rhyparochromidae (13 species). Among the listed species, 13 are new country records belonging to the families Reduviidae, Tingidae, Pentatomidae, Coreidae, and Alydidae.

Description of the female terminalia of twelve species of Proconiini and a key to genera from Argentina (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae).

The female terminalia of 12 sharpshooter species are described and illustrated: Aulacizes basalis, A. conspersa, A. insistans, A. obsoleta, A. quadripunctata, Cicciana latreillei, Pseudometopia amblardii, Stictoscarta sulcicollis, Tretogonia bergi, T. cribata, T. dentalis, and T. notatifrons. A key to the identification of the Argentinean Proconiini genera including male and female characters is provided.

The rediscovery of Stenogeocoris horvathi Montandon (Heteroptera, Geocoridae) in Argentina

Stenogeocoris Montandon, 1913 was described to include S. horvathi based in one specimen from Cordoba Province, Argentina. The type specimen is lost and there are no records or additional material since the Montandons description; thus, the identity of this taxon has remained uncertain until now. In this contribution, we redescribe the genus Stenogeocoris and the species S. horvathi, based on male and female specimens, including characters from the male genitalia, and compare Stenogeocoris with the other Neotropical genera