Leptopharsa

Taxonomy

Leptopharsa Stål, 1873

Type species: Leptopharsa elegantula Stål

Diagnostic characters

Leptopharsa is a large and variable genus.

Head short, clypeus not surpassing apical half of first antennal segment; cephalic spinescephalic spines:
a spine on the head
present; bucculaebucculae:
an elevated ridge on either side of the first labial segment
closed anteriorly; rostral sulcusrostral sulcus:
shallow furrow on either side of rostrum (labium)
uninterrupted by a transverse carinacarina:
elevated ridge or keel
and not constricted; pronotumpronotum:
dorsal sclerite of the first thoracic segment
tricarinate, height of median carinacarina:
elevated ridge or keel
greater than that of lateral carinae; pronotalhood present or absent; if present, slightly bulbous, not extending forward beyond the apex of head, not compressed anteriorly in dorsal view; paranotumparanotum:
lateral extension of pronotum; may be carinate, explanate, or reflexed
expanded, narrow or wide, not reflexedreflexed:
bent or curved backwards, as in a reflexed paranotum
, oriented subvertically, without marginal row of spines, anterior margin not projecting anterad; paranotal basal foldsparanotal basal folds:
a structure at the base of paranotum next to the callus of pronotum
absent; 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
level or tectiformtectiform:
tent-like or roof-shaped
along outer margin (R-M vein), reaching the middle of hemelytra; hypocostal laminae extending to the apex of abdomen (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., Drake and Hambleton 1946aDrake and Hambleton 1946a:
Drake, C. J., and E. J. Hambleton. 1946a. New species and new genera of American Tingidae (Hemiptera). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 59: 9-16., Drake 1954Drake 1954:
Drake, C. J. 1954. Tingidae: descriptions and synonymic data (Hemiptera). Great Basin Naturalist: 14: 1-10., 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).

Distribution

Afrotropical, Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical (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., Drake and Ruhoff 1965Drake and Ruhoff 1965:
Drake, C. J., and F. A. Ruhoff. 1965. Lacebugs of the World: A Catalog (Hemiptera: Tingidae) Bulletin of the United States National Museum: 1ndash;634., 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)
Leptopharsa clitoriae (Heidemann)	Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico	Cajanus cajan
Leptopharsa lineata (Champion)	Mexico	Brassica sp., Lactuca sativa
Leptopharsa machalana (Drake & Hambleton)	Mexico, Puerto Rico	Cajanus cajan, Ocimum basilicum
Leptopharsa ovantis Drake & Hambleton	Costa Rica	Psychotria sp.
Leptopharsa sp.	Ecuador, Jamaica, Grenada, Haiti, Mexico, St. Maarten	Atrocarpus altilis, Chamaedorea sp., Choisya ternata, Cucurbita sp., Hypericum sp, Limonium sp., Origanus vulgare, Persea americana, Sechium edule, Thymus sp., Tillandsia sp., Unknown plant in Fabaceae

References

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., Drake and Ruhoff 1965Drake and Ruhoff 1965:
Drake, C. J., and F. A. Ruhoff. 1965. Lacebugs of the World: A Catalog (Hemiptera: Tingidae) Bulletin of the United States National Museum: 1ndash;634., 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

Additional images

Leptopharsa images at the Smithsonian