Aetalionidae Spinola, 1850

Synonyms (and unplaced invalid names)
Biturritiidae Metcalf, 1951
Selected references
Spinola 1850a
Metcalf and Wade 1965a
Davis 1975a
Deitz and Dietrich 1993a
Dietrich and Deitz 1993a
McKamey 1998a
Overview
The family Aetalionidae is primarily Neotropical, but the subfamily Aetalioninae includes the New World genus Aetalion recorded from the Nearctic (Arizona and Florida) and Neotropical regions, and the Old World genus Darthula of the Indomalayan region. All members of the second aetalionid subfamily, Biturritiinae, occur only in the Neotropical region.
Taxon images
Aetalionidae
20153_mximage
1. Aetalion reticulatum female with egg m...
22069_mximage
2.Darthula hardwickii
15290_mximage
3.Biturritia
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4.Tropidaspis
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5.Mina
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6.Lophyraspis
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7. Tremembraetalion minutum (fossil ...
15276_mximage
8. Aetalion females, immatures, and eg...
26453_mximage
9. Aetalion reticulatum, nymphs and adult...
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10.Aetalion reticulatum nymphs
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11. Tropidaspis female on egg mass, with ...
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12. Lophyraspis adults and nymphs, with ...
 
Distribution
Neotropical, Nearctic, and Indomalayan regions and questionably Afrotropical region.
16700_mximage
1.
 
Diagnostic characters
Frontoclypeus flat or weakly convex, not produced anteroventrally. Distance from eye to base of forewing greater than half eye width. Pronotum not produced posteriorly over the scutellum; pronotal projection, if present, produced dorsomedially (Biturritia). Scutellum fully visible, usually strongly convex basally and keeled apically (keel strong in many Biturritiinae), rarely depressed, often elongate. Forewings with veins R and M fused basally (share common stem). Prothoracic trochanter and femur immovably fused (suture may be visible). Male and female pygofer with pair of processes produced posteroventrally (processes weak in Mina, at least in females, and in Tropidaspsis). Nymph with abdominal tergum IX not forming sheath around segment X (ventromedial lobes, when present, free), anal opening dorsal or posterior.
Taxonomic constituents
Prepared by
Lewis L. Deitz, Christopher H. Dietrich, Olivia Evangelista, and Gabriel Simões de Andrade, 31 July 2014.