Trigonocranus emmeae Fieber, 1876 (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Cixiidae) – a new species for Poland

Abstract Single macropterous female of Trigonocranus emmeae Fieber, 1876 has been found during the faunistic studies in semi-natural plant communities of Oświęcim city in southern Poland. It is the first record of this species in Poland. Trigonocranus emmeae is rarely collected within the wide range of its distribution, mostly due to its hidden life mode.


Introduction
The Fulgoromorpha and Cicadomorpha are represented in Europe by 2053 species (Hoch 2012). In Poland the fauna of Auchenorrhyncha comprises 537 recorded species, including the latest checklist by Chudzicka (2004) and species that were missed (Łabanowski and Soika 1997, Gębicki 2003, Świerczewski and Gebicki 2003 or published later than 2004(Gaj et al. 2009, Świerczewski and Stroiński 2011a, 2011b, Świerczewski and Walczak 2011, Walczak et al. 2012. During the recent studies in Brzezinka, a suburban district of Oświecim city (southern Poland) a single female of Trigonocranus emmeae Fieber, 1876 has been collected. It is the first record of this poorly studied representative of Cixiidae in Poland.
Insects were collected by a standard sweeping net (Ø 35cm) from the end of April till the end of October, altogether 15 samples per plot were taken. The collected material was transferred to a container with ethyl acetate. In the laboratory the collected insects were mounted on glue boards and determined. The key used to identify the species was Biedermann and Niedringhaus (2004).
Chorological and ecological data used in this work are accordant to Nickel and Remane (2002) and Nickel (2003). To determine the plant associations the key provided by Matuszkiewicz (2008) was applied.
Collected material is deposited in the Collection of Department of Zoology, University of Silesia, Katowice. The first locality of T. emmeae in Poland was located in Oświęcim-Brzezinka, Leśna street (Fig. 2) (Jedynowicz, 2009).
According to Nickel (2003) nymphs and brachypterous adults are unpigmented with reduced number of ommatidia and live on the soil surface and leaf litter. This species oc-  curs from the end of May till the end of July, hibernates in the egg stage and is univoltine. T. emmeae represents the European chorological element. It lives on moderately warm sites covered by vegetation of medium density, probably feeding on roots of shrubs. The mentioned specimen was collected on a moderately moist meadow. The data from Great Britain indicates that this species may be also collected in damp sites (Bantock 2012). The host plant species is unknown (Nickel andRemane 2002, Nickel 2003). There are no data about the trophic relations of this species, therefore it is unknown if it is mono-, oligo-or most probably polyphagous. The majority of collected specimens were caught by sweeping net or Malaise traps during the dispersal flight (Nickel 2003). T. emmeae can be also and effectively collected by an underground pitfall trap (M. Wilson, pers. comm.).
The difficulties in collecting T. emmeae result in lack of detailed biological and ecological data. This species is probably not as rare as it seems, however the right collection method must be applied to reveal its cryptic presence. Distribution of this species in Poland needs further research.