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Issidae

Family of planthoppers

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated May 21, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Issidae is a family of planthoppers described by Spinola in 1839, belonging to the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha superfamily Fulgoroidea.

01Distribution

Species of this family are present throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

Issid nymph
Issid nymph

02Description

Issidae are small insects generally with a stocky body, as the wings mainly develop in width. Basic body coloration is not striking, usually shows brownish colors. The head has two ocelli. The forewings have strong pronounced ribs. They wrap the abdomen when the insect is at rest. The family originally included approximately 1000 species with 215 genera, but the systematics of Issidae remains uncertain, with many of the subfamilies having been recently removed to separate families, including Caliscelidae. Nogodinidae, and Tropiduchidae.

In 2013, scientists described a biologically unique set of mechanical gears in an Issus nymph, though identical structures are known in most planthoppers, and were known for decades before the function of the gears was discovered.

03Taxonomy

The family Issidae was once large and included many groups which are now treated in other families or as families themselves. These groups include the Caliscelidae, Nogodinidae, and Tropiduchidae (e.g., subfamilies Tonginae and Trienopinae). Around 2003, there was a view in favour of a single subfamily Issinae, but the current consensus is placement in four (as below). The Catalogue of Life lists genera in five tribes Issini, Parahiraciini, Hemisphaeriini and Thioniini. The tribe Colpopterini have now been placed in family Nogodinidae Melichar, 1898 having been raised to a subfamily. The oldest fossil of the group is Cubicostissus of the Paleocene Menat Formation of France, belonging to the tribe Hysteropterini, molecular clock calibrations suggest a diversification during the Upper Cretaceous.

Subfamilies, tribes and selected genera

Fulgoromorpha Lists On the Web lists four subfamilies:

Hemisphaeriinae

Authority: Melichar, 1906

Hysteropterinae

Authority: Melichar, 1906; there are currently 59 genera including:

Issinae

The monotypic subfamily contains the sole tribe Issini Spinola, 1839 and has a widespread distribution in Europe, the Middle East and temperate Asia. There are currently ten genera:

Thioniinae

Authority: Melichar, 1906 There are currently 3 tribes and 16 genera:

Issidae incertae sedis

Twenty genera are currently placed here:

Uphodato Szwedo 2019, Krundia Szwedo 2019 and Breukoscelis Szwedo 2019 from the Bembridge Marls, England dating Eocene (Priabonian) were considered members of this family upon description, however, other authors have found assignation to Issidae dubious.

Watch videos about IssidaeExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Issidae”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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