Radio Telemetry and Harmonic Radar Tracking of the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae).

Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), spotted lanternfly (SLF), is an invasive pest that feeds and oviposits on numerous woody and herbaceous plants important to agricultural, forest, ornamental, and nursery industries. Describing and understanding SLF movements is key to implementing surveillance and control strategies for this pest and projecting population spread. We used radio telemetry (RT) and harmonic radar (HR) to track the movements of individual SLF at field sites in eastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey. SLF equipped with HR or RT tags were tracked in 2019 and 2020 from adult emergence until oviposition time, and their movements are described. Although the bulkier RT tags disproportionately affected the distance traveled by males, which are smaller than females, both males and females were more likely to be lost due to signal attenuation when affixed with the lighter-weight HR tags. Females were tracked moving longer distances than males, with maximum distances of 434 m by a single female and 57 m by a single male. A significant positive relationship was found between their height in trees and the distance of subsequent movement. Adult SLF were found in trees predominantly at heights between 6-9 m high. For the fraction of SLF found at eye level, males, but not females, significantly moved above eye level in the weeks prior to mating, likely resulting in the observed sex ratio shift that defines the Early-2 stage. During mating time, tracked SLF were significantly higher than 8 m and oriented to trees where tight aggregations of SLF were present. This orientation towards tight aggregations started when mating began and peaked in the following 2.5 weeks for males in Late-1 and the beginning of Late-2 (after oviposition began), whereas females started this orientation behavior a half-week after males, and this activity peaked for two weeks. Male and female SLF adults exhibited slight differences in host preference, and strong preferences for wild grape, black walnut, sweet birch, and tree-of-heaven were observed. The HR-tagged nymphs moved up to 27.6 m over a five-day period in a cornfield. Nitinol wire HR tags performed better than Wollaston process or tungsten wire tags. SLF movement parameters in the field are described.

Developing Traps for the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae).

The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White), an invasive, phloem-feeding fulgorid generalist, was recently discovered in the United States. Current trapping methods include placing glue-covered sticky bands around trunks of host trees to exploit the lanternfly's behavior of climbing up tree trunks. These bands are messy and need to be replaced often as they become covered in both target and nontarget insects and debris. Fourth instar nymphs and adults have also shown an ability to escape from traditional tree bands or avoid capture. A promising commercially available tree band (BugBarrier) design that faces inward to the trunk and targets larger developmental stages was tested. A modified pecan weevil trap (circle trunk trap) was also compared with tree bands. This design does not require the use of insect-trapping adhesive. Circle trunk traps caught more third and fourth instar and adult L. delicatula than BugBarrier bands. Flight intercept traps caught fewer adult L. delicatula than trunk-based tree bands. In a separate comparison, more spotted lanternflies were caught on adhesive-coated 'tree mimicking' traps placed along the edges of Ailanthus altissima Swingle (Sapindales: Simaroubaceae) stands than away from hosts in an open field. Circle trunk traps are recommended for their effectiveness at capturing L. delicatula as well as their relative ease-of-use and reusability.

Occurrence of treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Smiliinae) on oaks in delaware water gap national recreation area, 2004-2006.

A total of 870 treehoppers and 24 species from the tribe Smiliini (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Smiliinae) were collected from various oaks in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in 2006 using yellow sticky cards. Combining all years and collecting methods, 27 species were found in the park. A majority of the specimens collected in 2006 were males of Cyrtolobus vau and Ophiderma pubescens, as in previous years. Most of the treehoppers were caught in mid to late June, comparable to 2004 and 2005. It appears that many species are segregated either temporally or by oak group; some treehopper species show preference for either the red or white oak group rather than for one species of oak. Color photographs for 27 treehopper species (many including both sexes) are included.

Taxonomic changes in the treehopper genera Helonica Ball, Telamona Fitch, and Palonica Ball (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Smiliinae: Telamonini).

Nomenclatural changes within the treehopper tribe Telamonini are made as follows based on an examination of the type material of several species: the genus Helonica Ball is a junior synonym of Telamona Fitch, n. syn.; Telamona excelsa (Fairmaire), n. comb., with n. syn. T. unicolor Fitch; T. projecta Butler is reinstated from synonymy as a valid taxon for the North American taxa historically placed in Helonica; and Palonica albidorsata (Fowler) from Mexico, n. comb., is reinstated from synonymy based on morphological differences with T. excelsa and T. projecta. Lectotype designations are clarified for T. fasciata and T. unicolor based on specimens in the New York State Museum (NYSM). As a result of this work, the tribe Telamonini contains 68 species in 10 genera, the genus Palonica contains 7 species, and the genus Telamona contains 29 species.

A striking new treehopper genus Mutilifolia (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Smiliinae: Telamonini), from Costa Rica.

A new treehopper genus from Costa Rica, Mutilifolia, based on M. nishidai, new species, is described and illustrated. Mutilifolia is considered a member of the subfamily Smiliinae, tribe Telamonini based on characteristics of the pronotum, fore- and hind wing venation, and female genitalia. This genus superficially resembles the telamonine genera Antianthe, Archasia, and Hemicardiacus due to the highly elevated, foliaceous, and largely green pronotum, but the male style clasp of Mutilifolia with two recurved teeth differs greatly from the styles of any other presently known telamonine. Further collecting of treehoppers in the mountainous regions of Central America and Mexico, areas often neglected by collectors, may yield additional new Telamonini taxa. 

The host plants of the Telamonini treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Smiliinae) and the first diagnoses of nymphs for 14 species.

Recent research on the treehopper tribe Telamonini has focused on their classification and Nearctic distribution but little has been published on their biology, including detailed information on their host plants as well as data on their nymphal stage. Any studies including host plant data have emphasized adult records (often unreliable due to their movements), largely ignoring the nymphs, which are the predominant feeding stage. This work provides the first comprehensive summary of Telamonini host plants, it documents the first positive identification of the nymphs for several telamonine species (and the genus Helonica), and it provides the first morphological diagnoses for 14 species, thus filling in major gaps in the life history of many species. Host plant records were determined based on accounts in the literature (adults and nymphs), from rearings of nymphs on host plants to the adult stage, and from label data on museum specimens. The Telamonini are known from 22 families, 41 genera, and 80 species of mostly woody, deciduous trees (of which, six species are new host plant records). Nearly half of all telamonines have been collected from more than one plant genus and only 12 species are known from a single host plant species. Telamonine nymphs were reared to the adult stage on 15 plant species. Of 68 telamonine species, 45 have been found on oak (Quercus), and white oak (Q. alba) is the most common telamonine host plant. Telamona monticola has the most recorded host plants with 29. The work includes 23 color illustrations showing both live and preserved nymphs, representing 15 species, all illustrated for the first time (eight are positively identified for the first time). Differences in nymphal morphology among species within Archasia, Glossonotus, Heliria, and Telamona suggest current generic definitions need revision. This study highlights the need for an increased emphasis on nymphal collections when determining treehopper host plants and inferring classifications. 

On dorsal prothoracic appendages in treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae) and the nature of morphological evidence.

A spectacular hypothesis was published recently, which suggested that the "helmet" (a dorsal thoracic sclerite that obscures most of the body) of treehoppers (Insecta: Hemiptera: Membracidae) is connected to the 1st thoracic segment (T1; prothorax) via a jointed articulation and therefore was a true appendage. Furthermore, the "helmet" was interpreted to share multiple characteristics with wings, which in extant pterygote insects are present only on the 2nd (T2) and 3rd (T3) thoracic segments. In this context, the "helmet" could be considered an evolutionary novelty. Although multiple lines of morphological evidence putatively supported the "helmet"-wing homology, the relationship of the "helmet" to other thoracic sclerites and muscles remained unclear. Our observations of exemplar thoraces of 10 hemipteran families reveal multiple misinterpretations relevant to the "helmet"-wing homology hypothesis as originally conceived: 1) the "helmet" actually represents T1 (excluding the fore legs); 2) the "T1 tergum" is actually the anterior dorsal area of T2; 3) the putative articulation between the "helmet" and T1 is actually the articulation between T1 and T2. We conclude that there is no dorsal, articulated appendage on the membracid T1. Although the posterior, flattened, cuticular evagination (PFE) of the membracid T1 does share structural and genetic attributes with wings, the PFE is actually widely distributed across Hemiptera. Hence, the presence of this structure in Membracidae is not an evolutionary novelty for this clade. We discuss this new interpretation of the membracid T1 and the challenges of interpreting and representing morphological data more broadly. We acknowledge that the lack of data standards for morphology is a contributing factor to misinterpreted results and offer an example for how one can reduce ambiguity in morphology by referencing anatomical concepts in published ontologies.