Search for: All records

Recently discovered amber-preserved fossil Cicadellidae exhibit combinations of morphological traits not observed in the modern fauna and have the potential to shed new light on the evolution of this highly diverse family. To place the fossils explicitly within a phylogenetic context, representatives of five extinct genera from Cretaceous Myanmar amber, and one from Eocene Baltic amber were incorporated into a matrix comprising 229 discrete morphological characters and representatives of all modern subfamilies. Phylogenetic analyses yielded well resolved and largely congruent estimates that support the monophyly of most previously recognized cicadellid subfamilies and indicate that the treehoppers are derived from a lineage of Cicadellidae. Instability in the morphology-based phylogenies is mainly confined to deep internal splits that received low branch support in one or more analyses and also were not consistently resolved by recent phylogenomic analyses. Placement of fossil taxa is mostly stable across analyses. Three new Cretaceous leafhopper genera, Burmotettix gen. nov., Kachinella gen nov., and Viraktamathus gen. nov., consistently form a monophyletic group distinct from extant leafhopper subfamilies and are placed in Burmotettiginae subfam. nov. Extinct Cretaceous fossils previously placed in Ledrinae and Signoretiinae are recovered as sister to modern representatives of these groups. Eomegophthalmus Dietrich and Gonçalves from Baltic amber consistently groups with a lineage comprising treehoppers, Megophthalminae, Ulopinae, and Eurymelinae but its position is unstable. Overall, the morphology-based phylogenetic estimates agree with recent phylogenies based on molecular data alone suggesting that morphological traits recently used to diagnose subfamilies are generally informative of phylogenetic relationships within this group.

 

The leafhopper genus Homa Distant is revised. Four new species, H. osificata Xu, Dietrich & Qin sp. nov., H. oretinia Xu, Dietrich & Qin sp. nov., H. asilata Xu, Dietrich & Qin sp. nov., and H. algulata Xu, Dietrich & Qin sp. nov., are described from Thailand. H. haematoptilus (Kirkaldy) is redescribed based on specimens from the Oriental Region. All included species are illustrated and a key is provided to separate species for which males are known. 

Rovnoxestus rasnitsyni gen. & sp. nov. is described from Eocene Rovno amber based on an adult female and fifth-instar nymph collected at a recently discovered locality at Perebrody, Rovno Province, Ukraine. The new fossil taxon is tentatively placed in Aphrodinae and resembles Xestocephalites Dietrich & Gonçalves from Eocene Baltic amber but has the hind femur macrosetal formula 2+2+1 and hind tarsomere I in both nymph and adult with an elongated inner preapical seta. This is the first species of Eocene leafhopper for which both the adult and nymph are described in detail. 

Nomenclatural changes are proposed for numerous taxon names in the Insect orders Hemiptera and Palaeohemiptera. New replacement names are proposed for six genera, three subgenera, 55 species and six subspecies, additionally a homonymous name for a genus and eight homonymous names for species are substituted with the names of junior synonyms; 13 new synonyms are recognized; type species are fixed for four genera; 26 new combinations for species names are established. 

Two new microleafhopper genera of Empoascini, Thaioasca Wang, Xu & Qin, gen. nov. and Mjolnirus Wang, Xu & Qin, gen. nov., based on the type species, Thaioasca contaminata Wang, Xu & Qin, sp. nov. and Mjolnirus mediolobus Wang, Xu & Qin, sp. nov. are described from Thailand. Male habitus photos and illustrations of male genitalia of these two new species are given. A checklist of Empoascini from Thailand is also provided. 

The leafhopper genus Thaia Ghauri, 1962 and two related genera, Parathaia Kuoh, 1982 and Pseudothaia Kuoh, 1982, are revised. Nlunga Dworakowska, 1974, previously treated as a subgenus of Thaia, is elevated to the genus level, and Parathaia Kuoh, 1982, previously treated as a synonym of Thaia, is reinstated to valid status. The Oriental species lacking foveae on the pronotum are excluded from Nlunga and transferred to a new genus, Etmaria gen. n. Two species, Pseudothaia caudata Song & Li, 2013 and Thaia (Nlunga) leishanensis (Song & Li, 2007), are treated as Incertae sedis within Erythroneurini. Moreover, nine additional new species are described and illustrated: Nlunga parareeneni, Etmaria brevis, E. chaiyaphumica, E. dentata, E. indonesica, E. magna, E. triquetra, E. ulterior and Pseudothaia forcipis spp. nov. 

Six Afrotropical genera of the leafhopper tribe Erythroneurini are redescribed and two new genera, Laminaris gen. nov. and Projecta gen. nov. are established. Sixteen new species are described and illustrated: Laminaris angusta sp. nov., Laminaris cuspidatima sp. nov., Laminaris serrata sp. nov., Laminaris tenuis sp. nov., Projecta auriculata sp. nov., Projecta brevis sp. nov., Projecta depressa sp. nov., Projecta draciformis sp. nov., Accacidia obunca sp. nov., Imbecilla bifurca sp. nov., Imbecilla spinalis sp. nov., Lublinia anchoroides sp. nov., Molopopterus hastata sp. nov., Molopopterus ugandica sp. nov., Lamtoana exigua sp. nov. and Nsesa cameroonica sp. nov. Nsesa Dworakowska, 1974 is newly recorded from Cameroon; Nsimbala Dworakowska, 1974 and Szymczakowskia Dworakowska, 1974 from the Central African Republic; Lublinia Dworakowska, 1970, Lamtoana Dworakowska, 1972 and Ivorycoasta Dworakowska, 1972 from the Republic of Congo. Keys to species of the genera Accacidia Dworakowska, Imbecilla Dworakowska, Lublinia Dworakowska, Molopopterus Jacobi, Lamtoana Dworakowska and Nsesa Dworakowska are also given. 

Generic characteristics of three Australian erythroneurine genera are revised based on three new species: Baya lata, Zinga longa and Pettya tenuis spp. nov. Male genitalia characteristics of genus Pettya Kirkaldy are described for the first time.