Sternorrhyncha

Fossil of Pincombea sp., from Shcherbakov & Popov (2002).

Belongs within: Hemiptera.
Contains: Aleyrodidae, Psylloidea, Coccidomorpha, Aphidoidea.

The Sternorrhyncha are a group of small plant-sucking bugs including the aphids, scales, whiteflies and plantlice. They are commonly sedentary except when dispersing, moving little if at all. They are usually thought to be divided between two main lineages, of which the Psyllomorpha (including the whiteflies and plantlice) have jumping hind legs and eggs with short peduncles that may absorb water from the host plant (Grimaldi & Engel 2005).

The aphids (Aphidomorpha) and scale insects (Coccidomorpha) form a group with polymorphic individuals within a population, reduced or absent male genitalia, and winged morphs with a composite vein in the forewing comprised of R and the bases of M and Cu (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). The fossil record of the Aphidomorpha goes back to the Triassic; the Late Triassic Creaphis theodora is a stem-aphid differing from later forms in having forewings with a long stem to vein Cu, and long straight Rs and M veins (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). The Naibiidae are a group of superficially aphid-like bugs known from the mid-Triassic to the early Palaeocene. Though lacking evidence of sexual dimorphism, they share a number of features with scale insects such as a dorsoventrally flattened head and few, widely-spaced ommatidia, and are likely stem-group relatives of the Coccinea (Shcherbakov & Popov 2002).

Characters (from Grimaldi & Engel 2005): Head extremely opisthognathous, with labium originating from or close to prosternum; proboscis with fine, hairlike feeding stylets, coiled in head capsule when at rest. Antenna with eight or fewer flagellomeres. Hind wing lacking vannus and vannal fold. Tarsus one- or two-segmented.

<==Sternorrhyncha [Gallinsecta, Phytadelga]
    |  i. s.: Livia Latreille 1802 L02
    |           `--*L. juncorum (Latreille 1798) L02, L98 [=Psylla juncorum L02]
    |--Psyllomorpha [Psyllina] GE05
    |    |--Aleyrodidae GE05
    |    `--Psylloidea GE05
    `--Aphidiformes [Aphidinea, Canadaphidoidea, Pincombeoidea, Pincombeomorpha] SLN15
         |  i. s.: Atheroides brevicornis K09
         |--Boreoscytidae SLN15
         |    |--Megaleurodes megocellata Hamilton 1990 RJ93
         |    |--Dinoscyta SLN15
         |    |--Boreoscyta SLN15
         |    `--Archescytinopsis NR13
         `--+--+--Simulaphis [Simulaphididae] SLN15
            |  |    `--S. shaposhnikovi SLN15
            |  `--Pincombeidae [Pincombaeidae] SLN15
            |       |--Pincombea mirabilis Tillyard 1922 F71
            |       `--Madygenopsyllidium djailautshoense Bekker-Migdisova 1985 SLN15, RJ93
            `--+--Coccidomorpha GE05
               `--Aphidomorpha [Aphidina, Gradipedes] SLN15
                    |  i. s.: Essigella californica SC04
                    |         Dubiaphis curvata SLN15
                    |         Phorodon humuli JPW07
                    |--Naibioidea SLN15
                    |    |--Sinojuraphididae SLN15
                    |    |--Dracaphididae SLN15
                    |    `--Naibiidae SLN15
                    |         |--Naibia SLN15
                    |         |--Coccavus SLN15
                    |         `--Panirena SLN15
                    `--+--Aphidoidea SLN15
                       |--Genaphis GE05 [Genaphididae, Genaphidoidea SLN15]
                       |    `--G. valdensis RJ93
                       |--Lutevanaphis Szwedo, Lapeyrie & Nel 2015 [Lutevanaphididae, Lutevanaphidoidea] SLN15
                       |    `--*L. permiana Szwedo, Lapeyrie & Nel 2015 SLN15
                       |--Palaeoaphididae [Palaeoaphidoidea] SLN15
                       |    |--Ellinaphis Shaposhnikov 1979 H02
                       |    |    |--*E. sensoriata Shaposhnikov 1979 H02
                       |    |    `--E. leptoneura (Zhang et al. 1989) (see below for synonymy) H02
                       |    `--Palaeoaphis archimedia RJ93
                       `--Triassoaphidoidea SLN15
                            |--Triassoaphis [Triassoaphididae] SLN15
                            |    `--T. cubitus SLN15
                            |--Creaphis [Creaphididae] SLN15
                            |    `--C. theodora Shcherbakov & Vengerek 1991 RJ93
                            `--Leaphis [Leaphididae, Leaphidinae] SLN15
                                 `--L. prima SLN15

Ellinaphis leptoneura (Zhang et al. 1989) [=Caudaphis leptoneura; incl. C. minulissima Zhang et al. 1989, C. spinalis Zhang et al. 1989] H02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1–167.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[H02] Hong Y. 2002. Amber Insect of China. Beijing Scientific and Technological Publishing House.

[JPW07] James, D. G., T. S. Price & L. C. Wright. 2007. Biological control of mites on hops: the assemblage approach. In: Morales-Malacara, J. B., V. M. Behan-Pelletier, E. Ueckermann, T. M. Pérez, E. G. Estrada-Venegas & M. Badii (eds) Acarology XI: Proceedings of the International Congress pp. 357–364. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

[K09] Köhler, G. 2009. Heuschrecken (Saltatoria) und Ohrwürmner (Dermaptera) im Immissionsgebiet des Düngemittelwerkes Steudnitz/Thüringen—eine Langzeitstudie (1978–2001). Mauritiana 20 (3): 601–646.

[L98] Latreille, P. A. 1798. Mémoire sur une nouvelle espèce de psylle, Kermes, L. Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societé Philomathique de Paris 1 (15): 113.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[NR13] Nel, A., P. Roques, P. Nel, A. A. Prokin, T. Bourgoin, J. Prokop, J. Szwedo, D. Azar, L. Desutter-Grandcolas, T. Wappler, R. Garrouste, D. Coty, D. Huang, M. S. Engel & A. G. Kirejtshuk. 2013. The earliest known holometabolous insects. Nature 503: 257–261.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[SC04] Stone, C., & N. C. Coops. 2004. Assessment and monitoring of damage from insects in Australian eucalypt forests and commercial plantations. Australian Journal of Entomology 43 (3): 283–292.

[SLN15] Szwedo, J., J. Lapeyrie & A. Nel. 2015. Rooting down the aphid's tree—the oldest record of the Aphidomorpha lineage from Palaeozoic (Insecta: Hemiptera). Systematic Entomology 40: 207–213.

Last updated: 2 February 2019.