Emoloana, a New Genus for the Endemic Grass-Feeding Hawaiian Delphacidae (Homoptera Fulgoroidea)

Abstract

The endemic Hawaiian grass-feeding species of Delphacidae previously regarded as congeners of Kelisia Fieber are transferred to Emoloana n.gen. in the tribe Delphacini: E. emoloa (Muir) n. comb., E. eragrosticola (Muir) n. comb., E. swezeyi (Kirkaldy) n. comb., and E. sporobolicola (Kirkaldy) n. comb. with the subspecies E. sporobolicola immaculata (Muir) n. comb.; 2 new species are described: E. menehune n. sp. from Kauai, and E. pohakua n. sp. from Hawaii Island. The new genus is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and comprises 3 morphological groups: the E. emoloa-group with E. emoloa on Oahu, E. eragrosticola on Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii Island, and E. pohakua on Hawaii Island; the E. swezeyi-group with E. swezeyi on Oahu and E. menehune on Kauai; the E. sporobolicola s.l.-group distributed on all major Hawaiian Islands. The origin of Emoloana and relationships among species cannot be determined because of lack of knowledge about the morphology of potentially related taxa. A baseline for future genetic and biosystematic research on this group is discussed.