Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
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This is the CEC archive of Psyche through 2000. Psyche is now published by Hindawi Publishing.

Ignaz Matausch.
Observations on Micoutalis calva Say.
Psyche 19(2):66-69, 1912.

This article at Hindawi Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1155/1912/75698
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66 Psyche [April
I wish to state my indebtedness to Dr. Frederick Knab for the kind loan of the extensive collections of the National Museum. My thanks are due to Dr. J. Chester Bradley and Dr. James G. Needham for frequent advice on difficult questions. OBSERVATIONS ON MICOUTALIS CALVA SAY.
Roselle, N. J., 1911.
Two years ago, on September 26, I found the first insect of this species, a female, near Irvington, N. J. Last year I did not see
a single one, but this season, on August 20, while examining an elder bush near Roselle, N. J., for a larger genus (Acutalis), I found two very small insects like it, but of a considerably smaller size, which proved to be Micoutalis; one of these I captured, but the other escaped.
While hunting around that bush, where numerous ironweed- plants (Vernonia noveboracnsis) had been in full bloom, I found one very small nymph belonging, as I saw, to a small kind of Mem- bracidce. Soon afterward I found more of these nymphs, and at the same time more of the adult insects of Micovtalis. I thought they probably were the nymphs of that species, and to make sure I collected a number which I succeeded in rearing, as all (with the exception of one which died) were in the last nymphal stage. They matured, and both sexes have been obtained; on August Sad, the first, a male; on 23d a female; on 24th another female; on 26th more males and females. On this last day the plant wilted, and on the 28th all died.
On September 3, when the plants in the field began to wither, I collected two more nymphs which matured, one on September 11 and the other the following day, both females. On September 4 I found one soft nymph, of a brilliant yellow-red color, just after the change from the preceding stage into the last nymphal stage; but its bright color did not last, and after about one hour turned to a yellowish-red brown.
They seem to be very delicate, for after being handled in that Pn&e 19:66-69 (1012). hup Wpsycht enlclub orgt19119-066 html



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PSYCHE, 1912.
VOL. XIX, PLATE 5.
ALEXANDER-MEGZSTOMASTIX




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condition the insect died the n& day. Whether &me. insects have this bright &lor, after each molt, as does Euekenopa bin+ $(da (which are .at first always of yellow and red), I cannot state, '
but they probably do.
On September 16 a froat set in and &i the 17th only very scat- tered blossoms were found and the plant8 began to dry. ' At this time only one nymph, was collected which matured on September '-9% into a splendid female.
After that time none were found until
October 8, when only a few smaller plants were partly green; then 1 discovered one nymph of which I made a water-color picture Pig. 1.
Nymph and egg of Xwmfalis dm Say.
on the l%th of October. By supplying a fresh plant I found it '
-fully developed on October 14.
After that I could not find any food plant in nursing condition BO I tried Trifolium yectense and T. hybndwn,. The insect was
kept on those plants till December 3 when I found it dead, fastened to the stem.with its sucking bristles. The figure shows thenymph in the stage before maturity; they are nearly equal to the adult in size and vary somewhat according to the sex; averaging,3.5 mm. in length. In color some are dull green, others yellowish- brqwn, or rSd-brown; but the majority are purple, the exact color -
of the steins toward the upper parts of the plants. Before trans-



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68 Psyche [April
forming into the adult they fasten themselves by means of their piercing mouthparts often near or on the bud of the flower, as I found quite a number of shed skins at these places. Metamorphosis takes place usually very early in the morning as on my morning examinations I always found the insects in their adult stage in full color, although in one instance when I collected on September 4 a male of a somewhat grayish-white, which soon became yellow, then passed through brown into black in a little less than half an hour. It is a very lively insect as an adult; but the nymphs hardly move, as I found them resting all the time on the thinner stems near the flowers, always with the head di- rected downwards. This habit is also most frequently charac- teristic of the adult, as I noticed on September 4 when I was vainly watching them for some time, in hopes of observing one in the act of oviposition.
The adult male insect is about 3.2 mm. in length, the female 3.6 mm., and the colors as well as the pattern vary considera- bly in both sexes. I found in one case a male with the whole prothorax, except the humeral angles, shining black. In case of
one female the lateral marginal markings were absent, while in another the anterior pair of legs of the femora were light brown. The claws in living specimens are bright green. The abdomen varies from bright green in some specimens, through all shades to bright yellow, usually mixed with more or less bright red dor- sally. The pygofer is always green, a little blackish at the apex in the male; in the female the ovipositor is sometimes green but generally black, the black often extending along the side of the ovipositor and forming an oval marking.
On August 20 and on the following day both sexes were col- lected, the males in greater number. On September 3 and 4th I collected 7 females and 5 males. On September 17 only females were found, of which two were collected for observation. One died on September 26 and the other was killed and both examined for eggs; one containing 9, the other 13. On September 24 three other females were captured for the same purpose, the first dying on October 5 containing only 3 eggs, the second on October 14 containing 9 and the third on the 19th when 11 eggs were found; in the insect I kept in captivity till December 3 I found 10 eggs. On October 1 I did not succeed in finding a single insect, but on



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