THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY 



SCIENCE BULLETIN 



Vol. XI V.J October, 1922. [No. 21. 



Biology and Morphology of Lepyronia quadrangularis 

 (Say) — Homoptera, Cercopidse. 



BY KATHLEEN DOERING. 



Submitted to the Department of Entomology, University of Kansas, in partial fulfillment of 

 the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE purpose of this paper is twofold; first to add to the limited 

 data concerning the biology of the Cercopidse; and secondly, to 

 contribute to the morphological knowledge of the family, and inci- 

 dentally of the order. The subject of this paper was suggested by 

 Dr. Paul B. Lawson. Since Lepyronia quadrangularis (Say) is one 

 of our most common spittle bugs, it was thought that a study of its 

 biolog\", habits and morphology would be well worth while. Later 

 when a review of the literature revealed the meagerness of both bio- 

 logical and morphological details concerning other species in the 

 family, the necessity for this work was magnified. 



By means of the morphological studies the writer has attempted 

 to accomplish two things: First, since little work has been done on 

 the morphology of any cercopid, to give a detailed description of the 

 external anatomy, merely for the morphological interest involved; 

 and secondly, to contribute a small share, if possible, in determining 

 the relationships of the families within the order. A thorough 

 knowledge of the morphology of all families in a given order seems 

 necessary to correctly determine their phylogenetic relationship. In 

 the literature, however, they are usually determined on the basis of a 

 comparison of certain special parts of the body of a single species 

 from each family. But since the species, or at least the genera, may 

 vary within a family, some having primitive head sclerites and spe- 

 cialized genitalia, while others are just the opposite, it follows that 

 a fairly thorough knowledge of the entire structure of the body 



(515) 



