Treehoppers

Goding 1892a
Funkhouser 1927f
Funkhouser 1951a
Metcalf and Wade 1965a
Deitz 1975a
McKamey 1998a
Wallace 2011a
McKamey and Wallace 2015a
Wallace 2015a
Wallace 2015b

Wallace (2011a) gave an extensive overview and morphological phylogenetic analysis of this tribe and its relatives. McKamey and Wallace (2015a) found that records of Telamona from South America are incorrect, either being assigned to an incorrect genus or representing Nearctic species.

Goding (1892a) distinguished the tribe Telamonini from the Smiliini by the presence of crossvein r-m in the hind wing of members of the former, however, Deitz (1975a) treated Telamonini as a junior synonym of Smiliini. Wallace (2011a) reinstated Telamonini as a valid tribe. With recent changes (Wallace 2015a, 2015b), the tribe now has 10 genera (see “Taxonomic constituents,” below). Although the tribe Telamonini is not yet distinguished from the Smiliini in Wallace’s 2010a online key to the treehopper tribes of the United States, “Diagnostic characters” that define the Telamonini sensu Wallace 2011 are given below.

Telamonini

[listen] Glossonotus (Membracidae: Smiliinae: Smiliini), male courtship call. Copyright © 2008, by Reginald B. Cocroft.
[listen] Thelia (Membracidae: Smiliinae: Smiliini), male courtship call. Copyright © 2008, by Reginald B. Cocroft.

Neotropical and Nearctic regions: at least six of the ten included genera occur only in the Nearctic region.

Head dorsal margin with abrupt rise near eyes. Pronotum concealing much of forewing in repose, usually modified with anterior median horn or projection (exceptions: Archasia and Mutilifolia with pronotum highly elevated and foliaceous; Carynota with pronotum relatively simple), enlarged humeral angles (not suprahumeral horns), and longitudinal rugae; median carina complete or incomplete. Forewing with veins R, M, and Cu separate near base, but crowded anteriorly (without large cells separating them); vein R₄₊₅ confluent with M distad of M fork; with 2 or more m-cu crossveins. Hind wing with veins R₄₊₅ and M₁₊₂ free (if fused, only for short distance). Female second valvulae narrow and elongate; dorsal margin with 3 large, evenly spaced teeth; dorsal and ventral margins converging proximally; apex acuminate. Length of female almost always 8 mm or more.

Many telamonine species feed on Fagaceae, especially on various species of oak (Quercus). Additional host families include: Betulaceae, Cornaceae, Fabaceae, Hamamelidaceae, Juglandaceae, Oleaceae, Platanaceae, Rosaceae, Salicaceae, Tiliaceae, Ulmaceae, Verbenaceae, and Vitaceae (Wallace 2011a).

Most members of the tribe Telamonini (like most Smiliini) are solitary as nymphs and adults, monophagous, and univoltine (Wallace 2011a). Funkhouser (1917a) listed Telamona ampelopidis, T. unicolor, and Thelia bimaculata as species attended by ants.

Matthew S. Wallace, Lewis L. Deitz, and Mark J. Rothschild, 15 Sept 2015.