Telamonini

Wallace, Matthew S., 2014, The host plants of the Telamonini treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Smiliinae) and the first diagnoses of nymphs for 14 species, Zootaxa 3878 (2), pp. 146-166 : 155-156

Telamonini host plants: trends and patterns

The Telamonini (adults and nymphs combined) are known from 22 families, 41 genera, and 80 species (includes two subspecies) of plants ( Table 1). Of those, 36% are various oak species (n=29). Most of the plants are woody, deciduous (or semi-deciduous) trees, shrubs, or vines with the exception of Eupatorium (thoroughwart), Solidago (goldenrod), Verbena , and Vernonia (ironweed) which are herbaceous plants. Considering the paucity of telamonine treehoppers recorded from these four plant species, they are unlikely hosts. Telamonine nymphs were collected and observed from 23 plant species while nymphs have been reared to adults on 15 plant species. Quercus alba (white oak, for Heliria fitchi ), Q. palustris (pin oak, for Archasia pallida ), Q. rubra (red oak, for Telamona compacta ), Q. stellata (post oak, for A. belfragei ), and Q. velutina (black oak, for Helonica excelsa ) are new host plant records, and Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) is the first host plant record for Telamona woodruffi .

Most Telamonini species have been collected from multiple host plant species and/or genera. Of 68 telamonine total species, 32 have been collected from more than one plant genus and only 12 species are known from a single host plant species: Carynota maculata , Heliria clitella , H. cornutula , H. strombergi , Palonica nogalana , P. tremulata , Telamona ampelopsidis , T. calva , T. dorana , T. gibbera , T. woodruffi , and Telamonanthe turbinella . Palonica deserta and Telamona balli are only documented from a single plant genus. Six telamonine species have 15 or more recorded host plants species: Archasia auriculata (16 hosts), Archasia belfragei (18), Glossonotus univittatus (19), Palonica pyramidata (15), Telamona decorata (15), T. monticola (29), and T. unicolor (15). The large number of hosts documented for these treehoppers may be an artifact of certain variables rather than evidence of polyphagy. First, some of the records may be the result of misidentifications of treehoppers or plants or both. Second, many of the records are from adult captures and thus may not be true host plants. Third, most of the above species are very commonly collected telamonines in the eastern U.S., as documented by other studies ( Mason and Loye 1981b; Wallace 2008; Wallace and Maloney 2010), and therefore a large amount of biological data have accumulated for each (suggesting individuals of the more abundant species are more likely to end up occasionally on the wrong host). The telamonine with the most documented host plants, Telamona monticola , is among the more commonly collected treehoppers ( Funkhouser 1917; Ball 1931; Beirne 1961; Mason and Loye 1981b; Loye 1982).

Although oaks comprise only 36% of the total telamonine host plant species diversity, it is clear that many Telamonini rely on oaks for food and shelter during their development, as previously indicated by other researchers ( Wood and Olmstead 1984; Wallace 2011). Nymphal telamonines were reared to the adult stage on 10 different oak species in this study. Of 68 telamonine species, 45 (66%) have been documented on at least one oak species. This close insect/host relationship is no more evident than in the genus Telamona , where only two species are not recorded from oak: T. ampelopsidis and T. calva . Further, the seven plant species hosts to 10 or more treehopper species are all oaks ( Table 1): Quercus alba (white oak) (29 treehopper species), Q. bicolor (swamp white oak) (10), Q. ilicifolia (bear or scrub oak) (13), Q. macrocarpa (burr oak) (20), Q. montana (chestnut oak) (11), Q. rubra (northern red oak) (15), and Q. velutina (black oak) (17). White oak is the most common telamonine host plant based on the results of this study and is also the host to numerous species within the closely related tribe, the Smiliini ( Dietrich et al. 1999; Wallace 2008). Moreover, 10 of the 29 telamonine species on white oak were reared as nymphs on this plant to the adult stage.

Further evidence of the telamonine preference for oaks is seen in the low number of telamonine species found on non-oak plants. Of the 51 non-oak host plant species, 38 are hosts for only one or two Telamonini species while just six plant species are hosts to five or more telamonine species. Moreover, telamonine nymphs have been collected, observed, or reared from only 15 non-oak species. Among these non-oak plants, Castanea dentata (American chestnut) and Tilia americana (American basswood) are hosts to the largest number of telamonine species with seven and six, respectively. Nevertheless, the number of plant families (21) and genera (39) that telamonines use as hosts is notable. Further collecting and rearing of nymphs on a diversity of woody hosts may reveal additional host plants for many telamonine species.

Are telamonines generalists or specialists with respect to oak? Certainly, more nymphs need to be collected and/or reared on oak species before this question can be properly addressed. It is also unclear if some telamonines are specialists on either the white oak (e.g.: Q. alba , Q. montana ) or red oak (e.g.: Q. ilicifolia , Q. rubra , Q. velutina ) group, a pattern seen in some Smiliini ( Wallace 2008; Wallace and Maloney 2010). The data presented here suggest that some telamonines (especially Telamona ) may be generalists with respect to oaks. Based on the host plant list above, clearly most Telamona oak feeders have been found on more than one oak species. For example, T. monticola is documented from 18 oak species, and its nymphs have been reared from six oak species (both white and red oak group); T. decorata has been found on 12 oak species, and nymphs have been reared on four oak species.

No host plant information has been documented for the following telamonine species: Heliria gemma , Palonica satyrus , Telamona archboldi , T. celsa , T. coronata , T. ruficarinata , T. tarda , T. vestita , and Telonaca ramona . This work is a starting point in identifying the host plants for Telamonini treehoppers. It is hoped this paper will inspire collectors to find the host plants of the unknowns above and to identify new host plant records for the Telamonini and other treehoppers by focusing on collection of the nymphs in addition to the adults. Further, numerous unknown nymphal species collected from various oak species were not successfully reared to the adult stage. Thus, continued collecting and rearing activities should add host plant and taxonomic information about the Telamonini .