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Sharpshooters (Cicadellinae), a large subfamily of the Cicadellidae, exhibit a global distribution and a broad array of ecological preferences. To explore the phylogenetic relationships and roles of global historical, biotic and biogeographic processes in the diversification of sharpshooters, we analysed DNA sequence data from three mitochondrial and two nuclear genes for 243 taxa representing all Cicadellinae tribes, generic groups, regional faunas and data of geographic distributions of sharpshooter species compiled from online databases and available literature. The maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) analyses strongly support the monophyletic clade including Cicadellinae and Phereurininae. Divergence time estimates and biogeographic analyses suggest that sharpshooters originated in the Neotropical region or were more widespread in Gondwana during the Early Cretaceous and diversified through a combination of ancient vicariance and dispersal following the evolution of angiosperm‐dominated habitats. The earliest divergence during the Cretaceous gave rise to Oriental and New World lineages, the latter of which subsequently dispersed into the Old World and gave rise to the diverse endemic fauna of Madagascar. The Oriental lineage shows high diversity and endemism in tropical Asia and the Pacific, with striking distributional discontinuities in Wallacea. These results suggest that a combination of environmental and evolutionary factors including continental‐scale vicariance, long‐distance dispersal and diversification of terrestrial microhabitats and host plants may explain the diversity of the modern sharpshooter fauna.

 

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 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. 

The suborder Auchenorrhyncha (“true hoppers”) comprises nearly half of known Hemiptera, with >43,000 known species of sap‐sucking herbivores distributed worldwide, including many important agricultural pests and vectors of plant disease. More than half of the known Auchenorrhyncha belong to superfamily Membracoidea (leaf‐ and treehoppers), which has been a source of phylogenetic contention for many years. To construct an improved backbone phylogeny of this superfamily, we obtained transcriptome data for multiple representatives of all 5 previously established extant families and nearly all subfamilies to test their monophyly and relationships. 138 taxa (132 Membracoidea and 6 outgroups) were sampled with an emphasis on families Cicadellidae and Membracidae, which were paraphyletic as previously defined by most authors, several problematic subfamilies (Aphrodinae, Eurymelinae, Ledrinae, Nicomiinae, Stegaspidinae and Tartessinae). We analysed different combinations of data sets (amino acid, complete nucleotide and degeneracy‐coded nucleotide) using different modelling schemes. The resultant trees based on different analyses are congruent in most nodes. Discordant nodes mainly pertain to relationships among cicadellid subfamilies and tribal relationships within Aphrodinae and Eurymelinae. Analyses of gene‐ and site concordance factors and quartet scores indicate that this instability is largely attributable to an overall lack of informative characters across genes and sites rather than strongly supported conflict among genes. According to the congruent nodes, we make the following revisions: combine Stegaspidinae and Centrotinae into a single subfamily, Centrotinae sensu lato; restore Stenocotini from Tartessinae to its original position in the Ledrinae; and transformHoldgatiellaEvans from Nicomiinae to Melizoderinae. In addition, to solve the paraphyly of both Cicadellidae and Membracidae, a preferred option would be to combine all five previously recognized families into a single family, Membracidae sensu lato; the other option could be to render Cicadellidae monophyletic by excluding Megophthalminae and Ulopinae from Cicadellidae and elevating them to status as separate families.

 

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. 

Two new genera of the leafhopper tribe Erythroneurini, Hamata gen. nov. and Levigata gen. nov., are established based on type species from Yunnan, China: Hamata coralliformis sp. nov. and Levigata arborea sp. nov., respectively. Two additional new species, Gladkara bifi da sp. nov. from Yunnan and Thapaia tibetensis sp. nov. from Tibet, are described and illustrated and amended descriptions of their respective genera are provided. A new synonymy is suggested: Elbelus tripunctatus Mahmood, 1967 = Elbelus melianus Kuoh, 1992, syn. nov. Eleven species of nine erythroneurine genera are newly recorded from China: Arboridia (Arboridia) kakogawana (Matsumura, 1932), A. (A.) suputinkaensis (Vilbaste, 1968), Balanda kara Dworakowska, 1979, Dorycnia vietnamica Dworakowska, 1979, Gambialoa (Gambialoa) borealis Dworakowska, 1981, Gladkara albida Dworakowska, 1995, Seriana dentata Sohi & Mann, 1992, S. malaica Dworakowska, 1978, Tautoneura mukla Dworakowska, 1981, Yakuza sumatrana Dworakowska, 2002, and Ziczacella lyrifora (Dlabola, 1968). Additional faunistic data and illustrations are provided for the following species from China: Arboridia (Arboridia) agrillacea (Anufriev, 1969), A. (A.) lunula Song & Li, 2013, A. (A.) maculifrons (Vilbaste, 1968), A. (A.) suzukii (Matsumura, 1916), Arboridia (Arborifera) surstyli Cai & Xu, 2006, Gambialoa (Gambialoa) asiatica Dworakowska, 1979, Kaukania anser Dworakowska, 1972, Seriana indefi nita Dworakowska, 1971, S. ochrata Dworakowska, 1971, Ziczacella dworakowskae (Anufriev, 1970), Z. heptapotamica (Kusnezov, 1928), and Z. steggerdai (Ross, 1965). 

Two new genera, Malaysiapona gen. nov. and Chandrapona gen. nov. of Paraboloponina leafhoppers (Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Drabescini) with their unusally developed aedeagal base are described from the Pacific (Malaysia). The following new species are also described with the new genera: Malaysiapona brevipenis sp. nov. from Sabah, M. filamenta sp. nov., from Sarawak and Chandrapona vespertilis sp. nov. from Sabah.