Acalypta

Taxonomy

Acalypta Westwood, 1840

Type species: Tingis carinata Panzer

Diagnostic characters

Several morphological characters that usually remain constant within tingid genera vary considerably between polymorphic forms within this Holarctic genus. The polymorphic differences include size and convexity of the pronotumpronotum:
dorsal sclerite of the first thoracic segment
, spacing of the coxae, form and length of the hemelytrahemelytra:
one of the basally thickened forewings of Hemiptera
, presence or absence of the hindwings, and general habitus.

Characters diagnostic for the genus: head short, clypeus not surpassing apical half of first antennal segment; cephalic spinescephalic spines:
a spine on the head
present, less than 5 spines; antenniferous processesantenniferous processes:
the socket in which antenna is inserted in the head; also known as antennophore, antennal tubercles, or antennal process
prominent; pronotumpronotum:
dorsal sclerite of the first thoracic segment
uni- or tricarinatetricarinate:
bearing both median carina and lateral carinae on pronotum
; paranotumparanotum:
lateral extension of pronotum; may be carinate, explanate, or reflexed
widely expanded, not reflexedreflexed:
bent or curved backwards, as in a reflexed paranotum
; pronotal hoodhood:
term used to describe the modified anterior area of the pronotum, which is sometimes tectiform and sometimes bulbous, with numerous intermediate conditions.
tectiform, not bulbous; hemelytrahemelytra:
one of the basally thickened forewings of Hemiptera
with claval areaclaval area:
parallel-sided and sharply pointed anal area of hemelytron
weakly developed, almost entirely covered by posterior margin of pronotumpronotum:
dorsal sclerite of the first thoracic segment
; discoidal areadiscoidal area:
area of the forewing posterior to the subcostal area
flat, extending beyond the middle of hemelytrahemelytra:
one of the basally thickened forewings of Hemiptera
(Drake and Lattin 1963Drake and Lattin 1963:
Drake, C. J., and J. D. Lattin. 1963. American species of the lacebug genus Acalypta (Hemiptera: Tingidae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 115: 331-345., Hurd 1946Hurd 1946:
Hurd, M. E. P. 1946. Generic classification of North American Tingoidea (Hemiptera-Heteroptera). The Iowa State College Journal of Science 20: 429-493., Knudson 2018Knudson 2018:
Knudson, A. H. 2018. The Tingidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of southern Central America (with an emphasis on Costa Rica). Master#39;s thesis. North Dakota University. https://library.ndsu.edu/ir/handle/10365/28773, Henry and Brailovsky 2018Henry and Brailovsky 2018:
Henry, T. J., and H. Brailovsky. 2018. A new species of the lace bug genus Acalypta (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae) from Guatemala, and a spectacular new related genus and new species from Mexico. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 120: 533-542.).

Distribution

Nearctic, Neotropical (Guatemala, Mexico) Oriental, Palearctic (Drake and Ruhoff 1960Drake and Ruhoff 1960:
Drake, C. J., and F. Ruhoff, A. 1960. Lace-bug genera of the world (Hemiptera: Tingidae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 112., Golub 1998Golub 1998:
Golub, V. B. 1998. New and little known lacebugs of the genera Acalypta Westw. and Dictyonota Curt, from the East and Central Palaearctic (Heteroptera: Tingidae). Zoosystematica Rossica 7(1): 163ndash;170., Henry and Brailovsky 2018Henry and Brailovsky 2018:
Henry, T. J., and H. Brailovsky. 2018. A new species of the lace bug genus Acalypta (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae) from Guatemala, and a spectacular new related genus and new species from Mexico. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 120: 533-542., Knudson 2018Knudson 2018:
Knudson, A. H. 2018. The Tingidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of southern Central America (with an emphasis on Costa Rica). Master#39;s thesis. North Dakota University. https://library.ndsu.edu/ir/handle/10365/28773, Guilbert 2019Guilbert 2019:
Guilbert, E. 2019. Lace bugs database - http://www.hemiptera-databases.com/tingidae)

Interceptions at US ports of entry 1984 to 2018

 

Intercepted species	Shipment origin(s)	Inspected host(s)
Acalypta parvula (Fallén, 1807)	Canada, Mexico	Hydrangea sp., Mentha sp., Ocimum sp., Ocimum basilicum
Acalypta saundersi (Downes, 1927)	China	Chimonanthus sp.
Acalypta sp.	Cambodia, Guatemala, Netherlands, Mexico,	Tillandsia ionantha, Tillandsia sp., Helleborus sp.

 

References

Allen et al. (1988)Allen et al. (1988):
Allen, R. T., C. E. Carlton, and S. A. Tedder. 1988. A new species of Acalypta (Hemiptera, Tingidae) from Arkansas. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 61: 126-130., Drake and Lattin (1963)Drake and Lattin (1963):
Drake, C. J., and J. D. Lattin. 1963. American species of the lacebug genus Acalypta (Hemiptera: Tingidae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 115: 331-345., Drake and Ruhoff (1960)Drake and Ruhoff (1960):
Drake, C. J., and F. Ruhoff, A. 1960. Lace-bug genera of the world (Hemiptera: Tingidae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 112., Golub (1998)Golub (1998):
Golub, V. B. 1998. New and little known lacebugs of the genera Acalypta Westw. and Dictyonota Curt, from the East and Central Palaearctic (Heteroptera: Tingidae). Zoosystematica Rossica 7(1): 163-170., Henry and Brailovsky (2018)Henry and Brailovsky (2018):
Henry, T. J., and H. Brailovsky. 2018. A new species of the lace bug genus Acalypta (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae) from Guatemala, and a spectacular new related genus and new species from Mexico. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 120: 533-542., Hurd (1946)Hurd (1946):
Hurd, M. E. P. 1946. Generic classification of North American Tingoidea (Hemiptera-Heteroptera). The Iowa State College Journal of Science 20: 429-493., Knudson (2018)Knudson (2018):
Knudson, A. H. 2018. The Tingidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of southern Central America (with an emphasis on Costa Rica). Master#39;s thesis. North Dakota University. https://library.ndsu.edu/ir/handle/10365/28773

Additional images

Acalypta images at the Smithsonian