Exitianus Ball, 1929

El-Hady, Rabab M. & El-Sayed, Ahmed F., 2024, Classical taxonomy, molecular phylogeny and genetic analysis of the genus Exitianus Ball, 1929 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) from Egypt, Zoological Systematics 49 (2), pp. 143-157 : 145

Exitianus Ball, 1929

Exitianus Ball, 1929: 5 ; Oman et al., 1990: 213; Fang et al., 1993: 120; Emeljanov, 1999: 547; Dmitriev, 2003: 677; Zahniser & Dietrich, 2013: 56. Type species: Jassus obscurinervis Stål, 1859 .

Mimodrylix Zachvatkin, 1935: 108 . Type species: Athysanus capicola Stål, 1855 .

Diagnosis. The genus can be recognized by the following: Coloration yellowish brown, light brown, tawny or greyish with or without black marking. Moderate-sized, with strong body. Head slightly wider than the pronotum, crown convex between eyes; ocelli big and far from eyes; gena broad, incised below eyes; frontoclypeus broad with parallel sides. Thorax. Pronotum large and broad, anterior margin convex, posterior margin concave; scutellum usually with two faint or dark triangular markings. Forewing long, appendix large and extended around the apex, with three anteapical cells, brown wing venation or not, hind wing with four apical cells. Male genitalia. Pygofer dorsally sclerotized with 2 or 4 strong apical black spines. Valva triangular, articulated to the pygofer and subgenital plate. Subgenital plate rounded apically or sharply tapering with one lateral row of macrosetae; connective divergent Y-shaped, strong, and narrow; simple aedeagus with a thick stem; articulation between shaft and base. Gonopore large. Female genitalia with ovipositor extended far beyond the abdomen.

Remarks. Exitianus is a worldwide genus of the tribe Chaismini . Ross (1968) revised the Old World species of this genus and presented an intuitive phylogeny based on morphology.

Distribution. Worldwide. In Egypt, all over the country.

Ecology and habitat. This genus is known to attack agricultural areas that invaded by grasses ( Lindberg, 1961), as Alliumcepa L. ( Liliaceae ), Cucumissativus ( Cucurbitaceae ), Solanummelongena ( Solanaceae ), Oryzasativa L. (Graminae), Saccharum officinarum ( Poaceae ), and Trifolium ( Fabaceae ). This genus is a vector of phytoplasmas and/or spiroplasmas ( Mohammad, 1996; Boukhris-Bouhachem et al., 2007).

Economic importance. Minor pest.

Key to species of Exitianus from Egypt.

1. Pygofer with two black apical spines and scutellum without two basal dark brown triangles ............................................................. 2

Pygofer with four black apical spines and scutellum with two basal dark brown triangles..................................................... E. nanus 2. Pronotum without small brownish markings and spots along anterior margin..................................................................... E. capicola

Pronotum with small brownish markings and spots along anterior margin, scutellum with two middle dark grooves ......... E. pondus