The Great Lakes Entomologist Volume 14 Number 1 - Spring 1981 Number 1 - Spring 1981 Article 7 April 1981 Ontogeny of the Tibial Spur in Megamelus Davisi (Homoptera: Delphacidae) and its Bearing on Delphacid Classification S. W. Wilson California State University J. E. McPherson Southern Illinois University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, S. W. and McPherson, J. E. 1981. "Ontogeny of the Tibial Spur in Megamelus Davisi (Homoptera: Delphacidae) and its Bearing on Delphacid Classification," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 14 (1) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol14/iss1/7 This Peer-Review Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at
[email protected]. Wilson and McPherson: Ontogeny of the Tibial Spur in <i>Megamelus Davisi</i> (Homoptera THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST ONTOGENY OF THE TlBlAL SPUR IN MEGAMELUS DAVIS1 (HOMOPTERA: DELPHACIDAE) AND ITS BEARING ON DELPHACID CLASSIFICATION S. W. ~ilsonland J. E. Mc~herson2 ABSTRACT The forms of the nymphal tibial spur in Megamelus davisi Van Duzee, and their relation to Muir's classification of delphacid subfamilies and tribes, are discussed. The evolutionary relationships among fulgoroid taxa, in our opinion, are not clearly un- derstood. Although some attempts have been made to clarify these relationships on the basis of adult morphology (e.g., Muir 1930), the morphology of nymphs, including the ontogeny of anatomical features, has been virtually ignored.