Morphometric discrimination among females of sibling species of Aconophorini (Homoptera: Membracidae)

Abstract. Keys to species of auchenorrhynchous Homoptera are often based on male features, leaving no means for identifying females other than association with males. As a possible solution to this problem, we examined the use of linear discriminant functions derived from morphometric data (ten linear measurements among homologous body landmarks) for distinguishing females in two groups of sibling species in the Neotropical treehopper tribe Aconophorini (Membracidae: Membracinae): (1) Calloconophora caliginosa (Walker) and C.pinguis (Fowler); and (2) Guayaquila minuta (Fowler), G.venezuelensis Dietrich, and Central and South American populations of G.pallescens (Stål). Samples of female specimens identified by association with males were used to derive the discriminant functions. Performance of these discriminant functions as evaluated by jackknifing the data was as follows: 98.11% of the specimens in the first group correctly identified using a combination of three measurements, and 94.94% of the specimens in the second group correctly identified using a combination of ten measurements. 1991 Royal Entomological Society