INSECTS OF SAMOA 



Part II. Fasc. 1 



HEMIPTEEA 



FULGOROIDEA 



By F. Muir 



(With 25 Text-figures) 



Previous knowledge of the Fulgoroidea of the Samoan Islands is summed 

 up in a single paper published in 1921,* wherein were listed seven families, 

 nineteen genera, and twenty-six species. In the present contribution eight 

 families, twenty-seven genera, and fifty-one species are dealt with, one genus 

 and seventeen species being described as new. The most interesting addition 

 is the genus Buxtoniella, the affinity of which is doubtful. 



All except one {Nisia atrovenosa (Leth)) of the widely distributed species 

 belong to the family Delphacidae, tribe Delphacini ; on the other hand, the 

 subfamily Asiracinae is represented by one genus, which has the highest number 

 of endemic species of any in the Samoan gxoup. The former feed on grass or 

 economic plants, whereas the latter live on trees and bushes. Nisia atrovenosa 

 also lives on grasses, and this may have something to do with its wide distribution. 



The additions to the list support the general conclusion drawn previously, 

 that the Samoan Islands form an outpost of the Polynesian plateau, and that 

 they derived their Fulgorids from that region, their closest affinity being with 

 Fiji. The specific endemism is high, as thirty-six out of fifty-one species have, 

 so far, only been found in Samoa.f Two genera are endemic, Neolollius, closely 

 allied to Lollius, and Buxtoniella, without any close allies. 



* Muir (1921), " On some Samoan Fulgorids," Proc. Hawaiian Ent. Soc, IV, pp. 564-584. 



t But, on the other hand, there are very few species confined to particular islands in the 

 Samoan group, and this is the more apparent when we remember that little collecting has been 

 done on Savaii and the Manua Islands.- — P. A. Buxton. 



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