Psammotettix confinis Dahlbom 1850

Psammotettix confinis (Dahlbom)

Deltocephalus confinis Dahlbom, 1850, p. 193.

Jassus striatus.—Kirschbaum (not Linnaeus), 1868, p. 132.—Thomson, 1869, p. 70.

Deltocephalus heydeni Fieber, 1872, p. 3.

Deltocephalus thenii Edwards, 1915, p. 208.

Deltocephalus spathifer Ribaut, 1925, p. 19.

Deltocephalus striatus var. thenii Blöte, 1927, p. 57.

Ribautiellus thenii.—China, 1938, p. 195.

Psammotettix thenii.—Ribaut, 1938, p. 166.

Psammotettix spathifer Ribaut, 1938, p. 166.

Psammotettix confinis.—Ribaut, 1938, p. 166.

Psammotettix striatus.—Wagner (not Linnaeus), 1939, p. 162.

Ribautiellus confinis.—Roche, 1944, p. 84.

Deltocephalus harrimani Beirne, 1954, p. 495.

Length of male 3.2 to 3.8 mm, of female 3.5 to 3.6 mm; width of head, including eyes, of male 9.9 to 1.0 mm, of female 0.96 to 1.0 mm. Crown with median length 1.2 to 1.4 length next to eye; with median sulcus extending anteriorly 0.7 to 0.9 median length. Color varying as in P. alienus (Dahlbom). Hind wings transparent, veins colorless.

Pronotum with median length 1.14 to 1.41 times length of crown; with round pits as in P. totalus (DeLong and Davidson). Scutellum with crescentiform transverse suture. Macropterous form with wings as in totalus.

Aedeagus with shaft expanded into a flat-bottomed scooplike apex distad of gonopore, sides of apex joining bottom at approximately a right angle, apex truncate in caudodorsal aspect, greatest width two-thirds greatest distance between dorsal apodemes in caudodorsal aspect (Figure 18C).

Female seventh abdominal sternum with posterior margin broadly and shallowly emarginate, median emargination broader than the two lateral emarginations combined (Figure 18B). First valvula (Figure 18A) with basidorsal median lobe developed into thin vertical plates that do not extend as far cephalad as the articulating lobe; base of valvula with its complement appearing concave in ventral aspect, with articulating lobe arising laterad of median basidorsal lobe, the two appearing contiguous in ventral aspect (Figure 18A).

The holotype was not designated in the original description which was based on external characters. Ossiannilsson (1937) listed the type as a male and illustrated the aedeagus of the “type.” The type locality is Carices I Rohne, Sweden. The distribution is Holoarctic.

Psammotettix confinis (Dahlbom) is close to P. nodosus (Ribaut) in the form of the aedeagus. It belongs to the striatus complex. In external characters it is close to P. alienus (Dahlbom), P. totalus (DeLong and Davidson), and P. attenuens (DeLong and Davidson) in the Nearctic region. The shape of the posterior edge of the female seventh abdominal sternum of confinis is close to P. alexanderi, new species.

Remane (1965) described Psammotettix viridiconfinis Remane. The aedeagus of the Nearctic P. confinis (Dahlbom) (Figure 18C) differs from Remane’s illustration of confinis as much as does viridiconfinis. Further study may warrant recognizing specific or subspecific standing in the Nearctic form. Psammotettix harrimani (Ashmead) would be the type of this new taxon if Beirne’s (1954) interpretation of the type were confirmed.

Kontkanen (1950) reports dryinid and pipinculid parasites attacking this species in Finland.

Moravskaia (1956) reports this species as being polyphagous. It is found on grasses and herbaceous plants of the Compositae, Juncaceae, and Cyperaceae.