HOMOPTERA 



FAM. MEMBRAClDiE 



by W. D. FUiNTKHOUSER 



WITH 14 PLATES 



INTRODUCTION 



HE family Memhracida was first recognized and especially named as a more or less 

 distinct group by Germar who in 1821 erected his division « Membracides » to accommo- 

 date certain forms which had been previously included in the « Cicadas » of Linnaeus 

 and De Geer. Latreille used the same name in 1825. Burmeister followed with 

 « Membracina » in i835 and Blanchard in 1840 listed his n Membraciens ». Amyot and Serville in 

 1843 designated a number of species of this family as « Cornidorsi » and the term « Centrotitae » was 

 apphed to other species by Spinola in i85o. However, the use of « Membracina » by Walker in i85i, 

 « Membracinae » by Stal in i858 and « Membracida » by Fieber in 1875 rather definitely estabhshed 

 the terminology. The modern ending of « idffi » for the family name was first used by Butler in 1878. 

 Although the Membracidce include some of the most bizarre and grotesque of all insects, due 

 to their peculiar pronotal developments, they have seldom been found to be of any economic importance 

 and consequently have been studied almost entirely by systematists rather than by biologists or economic 

 entomologists. As a resuU, a very large number of species have been described and their geographical 

 distribution is fairly well known but practically no attempts have been made to work out the hfe histories 

 of the insects or even to record their hosts. 



The early work of Fabricius (1775-1803), Walker (1851-72), and Stal (1854-70) was of a very 

 general nature and consisted chiefly in the description of species from all parts of the world. Fairmaire 

 (1846) made a good start on general classification and Stal (1866) in his n Hemiptera Africana » made 

 a definite attempt to classify the Membracida of Africa, the first regional study ever made of this family. 

 Later, Melichar (i9o3-o5), Jacobi (1910-12), Lallemand (1925-29) and more recently Pelaez (ig35-36) 

 have made valuable contributions to the knowledge of the membracid fauna of Africa. 



The outstanding study of the Membracida of Asia vvas that of Distant (1907 ; 1916) in his « Fauna 

 of British India » and recent reports by Kato (1928-33) and Matsumura (1912-34) have added a 

 considerable number of new species from Formosa and Japan. 



