New Baltic amber leafhoppers representing the oldest Aphrodinae and Megophthalminae (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae)

Abstract

Abstract. Three fossil leafhopper inclusions from Eocene Baltic amber, representing three new extinct genera and species, are described and illustrated. Eomegophthalmus lithuaniensis gen. et sp. nov. is tentatively placed in Megophthalminae, although it may represent the stem group from which Megophthalminae, Ulopinae, and Membracidae arose. Xestocephalites balticus gen. et sp. nov. and Brevaphrodella nigra gen. et sp. nov. are placed in Aphrodinae: Xestocephalini based on the structure of the head, leg chaetotaxy, and male genital capsule. These new genera and species represent the oldest known representatives of their respective subfamilies and the latter is the oldest known brachypterous adult leafhopper.

Phylogeny and historical biogeography of leafhopper subfamily Evacanthinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) based on morphological and molecular data

“…Only a single undoubted fossil belonging to Evacanthinae is known, from Oligo-Miocene Dominican amber38 and the group is, so far, conspicuously absent from the diverse and relatively well studied Eocene Baltic amber fauna, which has yielded representatives of several other modern leafhopper subfamilies39. There remains a major gap in the fossil record of leafhoppers between the oldest undoubted leafhoppers from lower Cretaceous rock fossils, most of which cannot be assigned to modern subfamilies, and the relatively diverse and well-preserved amber faunas of the Paleogene.…”

Phylogeny and historical biogeography of leafhopper subfamily Iassinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) with a revised tribal classification based on morphological and molecular data

“…We included Xerophloea, a modern genus of Ledrinae, as one of the outgroups. Leafhoppers belonging to other modern subfamilies do not appear in the fossil record until the Paloegene (Baltic amber; Dietrich & Gonçalves, ) and the only undoubted fossil iassine, Archiokrisna garciamarquezi (Dietrich & Vega), is recorded from Oligo‐Miocene Dominican amber (Dietrich & Vega, ). Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that Iassinae could not have originated before the Cretaceous, given that no pre‐Cretaceous Cicadellidae are known and most modern subfamilies are absent from the pre‐Palaeogene fossil record.…”

Who’s that girl? A singular Tropiduchidae planthopper from the Eocene Baltic amber (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha)

“…Brachyptery in true bugs of the family Nabidae Costa, 1852 was noted as characteristic of species living in low and sparse vegetation (Kerzhner, 1981). Among fossils from the Baltic amber brachypterous forms were recorded also among Cicadellidae leafhoppers (Szwedo, 2002;Dietrich and Gonçalves, 2014).…”