1939] 
Protepiptera from Baltic Amber 
65 
PROTEPIPTERA, A NEW GENUS OF ACHILIDiE 
FROM BALTIC AMBER (HEMIPTERA, 
FULGOROIDEA) 
By Robert L. Usinger 
California Academy of Sciences 
Through the kindness of Mr. Walter W. Kawecki, a 
former resident of the free city of Danzig but now in San 
Francisco, I have been able to examine a collection of in- 
sects preserved in Baltic Amber. The material was col- 
lected along the shores of the Baltic Sea between Danzig 
and Konigsberg and the pieces of amber were polished by 
an amber worker in Danzig. 
The collection contains a single specimen of a moderate- 
sized Fulgorid immediately suggestive of our familiar 
forest-dwelling genus Epiptera Metcalf (1922) (= Eli- 
dipt era Auct. part., nec Spinola, = Helicoptera Am. & 
Serv.). The specimen is beautifully preserved with the 
wings of the left side conveniently spread. Every detail of 
the under surface can be seen as readily as on a living speci- 
men. The upper surface, however, is completely covered 
by a white cloud, as in many amber specimens. The apex of 
the front wing has been sharply broken off as if cut with a 
knife. 
Evidently the family Achilidae has not previously been 
recorded from Baltic Amber. Scudder (1890) has doubt- 
fully referred a single specimen ( Elidiptera regularis 
Scudder) to this group from his Florissant material of 
Miocene age. However, the nine species of Cixius described 
from Baltic Amber by Germar and Berendt (1856) need to 
be reexamined with a view to their possible inclusion in the 
Achilidse. This family, or subfamily as it was then called, 
was not proposed until ten years later when Stal (1866) 
monographed the group in his usual masterly way. Stal’s 
classification has been confirmed and expanded by Muir’s 
detailed genitalic studies which indicate that the extension 
of the claval vein to the apex of the clavus is a really signifi- 
