Fulgoromorpha: The coolest insects!'s Journal

Pyrilla is an interesting genus of dull, mostly brownish yellow, planthoppers of the family lophopidae. This journal shares everything I know about Indian pyrilla, with a key to the species.

I have been lucky enough to see all species listed here! (Yes, all indian pyrilla species are on my profile, except one mysterious one which I could not take a photo of because it hopped away, I have included it.)

Because of that "mysterious one"'s find, I prefer to divide pyrilla into two groups: p. perpusilla group and p. sp. group

Note:

While I have given length for each species, I don't know if that is correct, as it's only from the specimens which I found, which may be of any age so that is not accurate; Also all species' descriptions except p. sp, which I saw last year, are, based on dead specimens, so descriptions can be inaccurate;

The key

1 ..... A typical, translucent, brownish yellow winged, pyrilla ..... P. perpusilla group
|_ 1.1 ..... Carinae below eyes ..... P. abberans
|_ 1.2 .....No carinae below eyes ..... P. perpusilla "subgroup" (yes, I do consider it like this)
|_ 1.2.1 .... A mostly peach snout, and a peaches mustard thorax with brown eyes ..... P. lycoides
|_ 1.2.2 ..... A brown species, yellow in dead/faded specimens ..... P. perpusilla
2 ..... Hyaline wings (You will understand why I include this in the description I give) ..... P. sp group
|_ 2.1 ..... Snout black above, olivaceous below; the rest of the face is black with chocolate brown (A very dark shade of brown) ..... P. sp

Description of species

Pyrilla abberans

P. abberans:
Picture 1: Epipyropidae (planthopper parasite moth larvae) on abdomen and hyaline hindwings;
Picture 2: Head and carinae;

A species with carinae under the eyes, a typically greyish snout, and one of the most unique species to me after protuberans and sp.; a quite common species, they come flying to my tubelight in monsoon when I keep the windows open.

Length: HT 2cm; Distribution within India: Uttar Pradesh(west, Especially Noida) and nearby(I'm in Noida, Uttar Pradesh!)

Pyrilla lycoides

P. lycoides (sorry, the image is blurry but it did have spots)

A slightly bigger species without carinae under the eyes, a typically peachish snout, and one of the most rare species with the exception of P. sp.; they also come flying to my tubelight in monsoon.

Length: HT 2.1cm; Distribution within India: Uttar Pradesh and nearby(all observations as of now are from Uttar Pradesh).

Pyrilla perpusilla

Pyrilla perpusilla

The type species, it also doesn't sport carinae under the eyes, a typically brownish snout, and one of the most rare species with the exception of P. protuberans and P. sp.; they also come flying to my tubelight in monsoon.

Length: HT 1.9cm; Distribution within India: Ranges from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal.

Pyrilla sp.

The "mysterious" species, it too doesn't sport carinae under the eyes; I'm giving a longer description here:

Wings, including membrane, almost hyaline, and dotted with black or extremely dark brown; The eyes very dark brown; the head was black, the snout was olivaceous below, and black above, the snout was shaped like pyrilla species' snouts, and the wing's dotted pattern was also similar to pyrilla, so I include it in the genus;
provably this will be transferred to another genus in the future, and would be the closest relative of actual pyrilla, but it is supposed to be within pyrilla.

Length: HT 2.1cm; Distribution within India: Noida, Uttar Pradesh

I hope this will be useful to you

People hove seen these genra may ask 2 questions : "why do they need to look like walking backwards?" and "what are those antennae in the back"? Here are the answers:

#1 - Why do they need to look like walking backwards

Well, it's actually to scare predators as they may look "seriously alien", and may put predators at bay. It actually makes the predators think that it is their predator (Note the large size, Ancyra seems to be bigger). the eye pattern/spot on each wing mimic eyes, and the wings work as antennae, and all of that effect is created by the wings, so when it was forwards, it looks like moving backwards;

#2 - What are those antennae placed on the back

At the apex of the wings, the wings are elongated into a stick like projection that ends with a club, that mic antennae. On top of that, planthopper antennae are small, so they can't easily seen. the antennae of most true hoppers (auchennorhyncha) are of 3 segments: a cone, on top it is a sphere, and finally a short small thread or needle shaped projection (not sharp at all, it's completely safe to touch them), and the total length of a planthopper antenna is generally smaller than 1cm!

Most Dichopterinae don't have a cephalic process.
There are no Dichopterinae found in Africa.
And their cephalic processes can't tilt to drink sap.

With the exception of Dorysarthrus alfierii(yes, it's from @psyllidhipster's guide, just I added extra pointers)

And it has an unusual colour for it's subfamily: ochraceous. Most provably, the reason that it helps in camouflage, as it's found in northern Africa, which is mostly a desert.

I kept on mentioning about Issids with long snouts, but now I came up with something more extreme.

Argepara lyra is an interesting species similar to Hemisphaerius but is more related to issus, but the fronts is extended anteroventrally, making a distinct boar face beetle like appearance.

I guess many beetle like issids don't pop out but Opthalmosphaerius trilobulus does. It ranges in colour from yellow to red, but the beauty is the pattern: A diagonal line next to a do, resembling some sort of logo; Here are the observations:

Yellow form from China: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143631517

Orange form from Vietnam: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35651500

Red form from India: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/423022

While most issids seem to blend with tree bark or branches, there are some that take camouflage to the next level - And Issus lauri is the perfect example! It looks like a leaf instead, and is found in Europe. It's small, less than 1.5 cm long, which also lets it drink plant's sap without being noticed by predators easily. But it's camouflage isn't perfect, as the veins on the wings and the legs, head, thorax, abdomen, are coloured peach and eyes dark red in most specimens, there are some exceptions, where the specimens are completely green (except the eyes, which are shaped and coloured like fly eyes, and legs, which are peach).

Many people underestimate issids, but some are too diverse; In fact, they are one of the most overlooked members of the fulgoromorpha, but here's an example of how diverse they can be:

Recently I were checking out issid observations for the next and stumbled stumbled across someissid I just couldn't believe. It's pretty rare (only 2 records are known on iNat) but what made it incredible was it just shows how underestimated those issids are because it had not one but TWO SNOUTS! It's name is bootheca taurus, and it's general colouration is a bright dusky brown.

Mentioned in

Issid month #1 Long-snouted issid planthoppers???

Many people think about issid planthoppers as boring little guys with small wings which are shaped almost circular (Me too, except hemisphaeriina and the ones featured in the article); But a few species are difficult ignore, like these guys.. and also, this is going to be issid month! So be prepared for lots and lots of issids (and keys for identifying issids) Let's start:

1 ..... Wings formed similar to a beetles cuticle/elytron

1 a ..... Stripes on the snout's ventral part ..... Macrodaruma pertinax

1 b ..... No stripes on the snout's ventral part ..... Choutagus longicephalus

2 ..... Wings not formed similar to a beetles cuticle/elytron

2 a ..... Apical part of the head curved in lateral view. General colouration light brown or pale with pale cyan snout..... Pseudochoutagus curvativus

2 b ..... Apical part of the head straight in lateral view. General colouration reddish brown ..... Pseudochoutagus rubens

2 c ..... Pelicular buffalo like snout with an upward pointing pin-shaped horn; front legs formed into mantis claw like appendages ..... Augilodes binghami

2 d ..... Two snouts ..... Bootheca taurus

2 e ..... Snout varied in size, pin shaped, general colouration green to greenish-yellow ..... Symplana

Pictures: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Pyrops-buomvoi-sp-nov-paratype-RBINS-A-Habitus-ventral-view-B-Habitus-dorsal_fig1_359973157

What I am explaining isn't noted in the article, but p. buomvoi does have weird features:

It's clearly noted that the spots on the corium (The part of the forewings that is halfway from the point where the wings attach to the thorax) are formed into 3 bands; And so does p. spinolae and p. jianfenglingensis have, which is from the candelaria group. But the bumps on the snout are similar to p. ishiharai, this not in the candelaria group. Another feature it shares with p. ishiharai is the slender snout, which doesn't go with the members of the candelaria group. Thus, it's taxonomy is a puzzle.

Sinosurijikocixius is a newly described surijikocixiid, from the middle triassic of China (247 - 235 mya).