Edwardsiana sociabilis (Ossiannilsson, 1936)

Andrea Zanetta, David Frey, Marco Moretti & Valeria Trivellone, 2016, First records of Edwardsiana sociabilis (Ossiannilsson, 1936) and Laburrus pellax (Horváth, 1903) (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae) in Switzerland, Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 89, pp. 281-287 : 283

Edwardsiana sociabilis (Ossiannilsson, 1936)

( Fig. 1 )

Material. 1. allotment « Käferberg »; N47° 24’ 3.132”, E8° 31’ 25.932” ( Fig. 2 ); 520 m; 8June 2015; 1 ♂; bowl trap.

This Palearctic species is widespread in central-northern Europe. Its distribution area ranges from Germany to Sweden, and from The Netherlands to Russia (European part) with the most southern record from Georgia. Edwardsiana sociabilis represents one of the rare documented cases in which specialized native leafhoppers have shifted to exotic shrubs, such as Rosa rugosa ,but in natural habitats it is confined to the tall herb Filipendula ulmaria ( Nickel 2008) . This species frequently occurs in urban areas on Rosa spp., which is one of the most frequently cultivated genera among garden plants. The presence of this leafhopper in gardens was expected in Switzerland as the species occurs in Germany and Austria ( Nickel 2003). Considering that leafhoppers in gardens have hardly been investigated in Switzerland, it is not surprising that E. sociabilis has not previously been found.

Figures

Fig. 1. Edwardsiana sociabilis (Ossiannilsson, 1936). Photograph by Gernot Kunz.

Fig. 2. Geographic locations of the gardens in the city of Zurich where the leafhopper species new to Switzerland were sampled with bowl and pitfall traps during the BetterGardens invertebrate survey between May 18 th and August 19 th 2015. Each individual reported in the text is assigned to its respective sampling site.