STUDIES IN PHILIPPINE JASSOIDEA: II, PHILIPPINE JASSARIA 



By C. F. Baker 

 (From the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines) 



FIVE TEXT FIGURES 



The present classification of the jassoid insects is one of the 

 most artificial groupings in the Hemiptera. Groupings have 

 been proposed by various authors, in each case based principally 

 on the Jassoidea ^ of a single country or at least of limited 

 regions. We have had these, more or less varied in detail, for 

 Europe, America, India, and Australasia and Polynesia. Any 

 one of these classifications is largely broken down in attempts 

 to use it for the jassoid insects of the w^orld. But very few 

 generic or even family types have been given thorough ana- 

 tomical study, the bulk of the genera and even higher groups 

 having been so incompletely described, that their arrangement 

 in a common system, at this time, is next to impossible. Ad- 

 equate anatomical studies in this superfamily will surely bring 

 about a more natural arrangement, as it has recently done in 

 the Psylloidea. For example, it may justly be said that we 

 know next to nothing of the composition of the thorax of the 

 jassoid insects. Some observations I have made on pleural and 

 sternal sclerites in certain forms indicate that this will be a 

 fruitful subject for study. I have labored for many years simply 

 to bring together enough material from all regions to gain some 

 elementary idea of the broader groupings possible. I estimate 

 that more undescribed species now exist in collections than all 

 previously made kijown by all authors. It may be imagined 

 how all this coming work will modify our present conceptions 

 of genera. Some of the existing "genera" will completely dis- 

 appear in this flood of species, while many new genera will have 

 to be erected, this in its turn widely modifying family limits. 



^ It seems that the time is soon coming when the Homoptera by general 

 consent will be divided into the superfamilies Fulgoroidea, Cicadoidea, Cer- 

 copioidea, Membracioidea, Jassoidea, Psylloidea, and Coccidoidea. These can 

 then be divided into numerous natural families. Only special students of 

 the group are aware of the enormous extent of the Homoptera, even as im- 

 perfectly known as it is at present, and these students, at least, welcome 

 the greater clarity and simplicity possible in the recognition of more 

 numerous families. 



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