A REVISION OF THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF 

 PLATYMETOPIUS. 



By E. P. \an IJL/.iiE, 

 Buffalo. X. V. 



The Hemi])teroiis genus Platynietopius was founded 1)\- Bur- 

 meistcr in is;^s in his (jcncra Insectorum for the European 

 rostral Its U.S. and vittatus Fabr ( =iind(itns DeGeer.) the former 

 of which should doubtless be taken as the type. It is widely 

 distributed in the pakearctic and nearctic regions. Twelve 

 sjjecies have been recorded from the former and from the latter 

 twenty-three are enumerated in the present pa])er. Three 

 additional species have been described from tro])ical America, 

 where the geiuis may be well represented. 



This geniis "is easily distinguished from the allied Jassid 

 genera by the long pointed vertex, the narrow front and the 

 strong elytral venation. There are three anteapical and five 

 ajjical areoles in the elytra of which the outer is broadly triangu- 

 lar; the second sector is connected with the branches of the first 

 by two transverse veinlets and there is usually a series of eight 

 or ten oblique veinlets crossing the costal areole. The elytra 

 in the more typical species are more or less closely inscribed with 

 fine brown or fuscous pigment lines and ornamented with a few 

 oval or rounded whitish spots placed near the ends of the areoles 

 of which those occupying the aj^ex of the anteapical and the 

 base of the apical are most regular and persistent. The angled 

 base of 'the front usually has a concentric pale or white line a 

 little belo\v the sharp edge of the head where there is frequently 

 a second line; these lines being accentuated by darker l)orders. 

 In the ]:)aler faced species these lines m.ay become obscure or 

 entirely obliterated. In fully marked species there are usually 

 five longitudinal jjale vitt:e on the pronotum and about five 

 white calloused spots on the margins of the scutellum of which 

 three are on the angles of the posterior field. The characters 

 of the genitalia are (juite distinctive in some of the species but 

 in most they run so close that they are of little value for diag- 

 nostic purposes. 



I do not now like to exj^ress any ver\' decided views on the 

 phylogeny of this genus but in a linear arrangement of the 

 genera I would certainly place it l)etween Mcsaniid and Dello- 



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