Genus Platybrachys Stål
Platybrachys decemmacula (Walker)
Genus Platybrachys Stål 1859: 280
Type
species: Aphana lanifera Stål 1854 (by
original designation)
Note on the genus: Jerôme Constant, Belgium, has demonstrated that the species grouped together under this genus represent a number of different genera. Once he has completed his revision, the genus Platybrachys will be more strictly defined and several new genera will have been created.
Biology: The planthoppers in the Platybrachys genus group include some of the most familiar eurybrachids in Australia and are commonly found running up, down or sideways around the trunks of eucalypt trees. The nymphs can also be found in this situation. Hacker (1924) described the life history of P. leucostigma, including information on egglaying, the anal appendages of the nymphs and natural enemies of the species. He also provided black and white photographs of P. leucostigma, P. maculipennis and P. decemmacula. There is evident sexual dimorphism exhibited by these species with the females often having brightly coloured face and abdomen in contrast to brown males.
Two species of the complex are recorded from outside of Australia although one of these records must be considered doubtful. P. barbata (Fabricius) was listed by Gmelin (1789) from India which is a highly unlikely locality for a genus which is otherwise so restricted. P. leucostigma was described, as P. aerata n. sp. by Distant (1892: 282), from Qld and Samoa. All other species of the Platybrachys complex are only known from Australia.