Amritodus
Genus of insects
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amritodus is a genus of leafhoppers in the subfamily Idiocerinae. The genus is limited to the Indo-Malayan region and many species feed on plants belonging to the family Anacardiaceae. The genus included a number of species based on morphological characters but a molecular phylogenetic study in 2020 led to the revision of the genus. The new study found two clades within the genus leading to it being split into a new genus Paramritodus.
| Amritodus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Auchenorrhyncha |
| Family: | Cicadellidae |
| Subfamily: | Eurymelinae |
| Tribe: | Idiocerini |
| Genus: | Amritodus Anufriev, 1970 |
| Type species | |
| Idiocerus atkinsoni Lethierry, 1889 | |
The genus Paramritodus includes what were previously called Amritodus flavocapitatus, A. pistacious and A. podocarpus having the shared characters of a finely rugose crown, shagreen pronotal surface, vein characters of the forewing with r-m1 crossvein and no m-cu1 vein, and a hind leg with three platellae. The other characters are in the male genitalia.
The stricter new genus Amritodus which includes the clade of the type species has a crown with a pair of black spots. The face is yellow or brown. The pronotum has a pair of black markings. The ocelli are closer to the eyes than to each other. The forewing venation includes a m-cu1 cross-vein but without r-m1 and m-cu2 cross-veins. The hind femur has 2+1 spines at the apex. The hind tibia has 18-20 setae on one row and 6 on the other. The genus is close to Idioscopus but is differentiated by the male genitalia.[1]
Species in the genus:
- Amritodus atkinsoni (Lethierry, 1889)
- Amritodus brevis Viraktamath, 1997
- Amritodus brevistylus Viraktamath, 1976
- Amritodus saeedi Ahmed, Naheed & Ahmed, 1980