Phylogeny of the leafhopper subfamily Deltocephalinae (Insecta: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae) and related subfamilies based on morphology

A review of the tribes of Deltocephalinae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae)

“…McKamey (2003b) provided the replacement name Dwightla for the preoccupied Dwightia Linnavuori & Al-Ne'amy, 1983, thus necessitating a change in the family group name. Phylogenetic analyses of new molecular data provided here confirm that Dwightla is closely related to selenocephalini, a result also found based on morphology alone (Zahniser & Dietrich 2008). …”

“…Sternite VII length ~1.75 x width; pointed and V-shaped apically; lateral margins convex anteriorly, concave posteriorly. First and second valvulae illustrated in Zahniser & Dietrich (2008: figs 5b, 7d) as "Acostemma sp.". First valvulae relatively slender; dorsal sculpturing pattern strigate to reticulate or imbricate.…”

“…Also, taxonomic concepts of many family-group taxa have often not been clearly stated or universally agreed upon, or even if they have, their circumscriptions have often not been tested by examination of multiple character sets or in phylogenetic analyses. These deficiencies have been partly addressed by taxonomic revisions (e.g., Linnavuori & Al-Ne'amy 1983, Knight & Webb 1993, Zhang & Webb 1996, Dietrich & Dmitriev 2003 and recent phylogenetic studies based on morphological (Dietrich 1999, Knight & Webb 1993, Zahniser & Dietrich 2008) and molecular data (Dietrich et al 2001, Zahniser & Dietrich 2010. These studies provided strong evidence European Journal of Taxonomy 45: 1-211 (2013) that Deltocephalinae sensu Oman et al (1990) was not monophyletic and that several other leafhopper subfamilies had their closest relatives within the deltocephaline lineage.…”

Description new species from leafhopper belongs to genus Neoalitarus Distant, 1918 in Iraq

“…The family of Cicadellidae is one of the largest families with order Hemiptera, includes more than 40 subfamily [1] and is a sub-family Deltocephalinae of the biggest sub-families it has 38 tribes and 923 genus and about 6683 species [2]; given the nature of feeding these people, they prefer planted juice for the bark, the wood of the vascular plant and the herbs are the main reason for many viruses are transported from plant to another causing the several of economic damage [3]. The genus Neoalitarus distant, 1918 the return to the Deltocephalinae's sub-family, which is characterized by the spindle body and the length of the male and female is between 3.2-4.5 mm and the head is rounded and the dark brown colour is predominant on the fore wing of its members [4].…”

A new leafhopper genus with two new species related to Masiripius Dlabola, 1981 (Hemiptera, Deltocephalinae, Cicadellidae, Opsiini)

“…Leafhoppers are an important group of insects for their often high abundance, host plant specialization, plant disease transmission, and response to environmental disturbance (Nielson & Knight 2000;Hollier et al 2005;Zahniser & Dietrich 2008;Hamilton & Whitcomb 2010). The leafhopper tribe Opsiini is one of the most important tribes in the subfamily Deltocephalinae and species of this tribe are important vectors of viral and bacterial (phytoplasma and spiroplasma) phytopathogens (Nielson 1968;Fletcher & Wayadande 2002;Weintraub 2007;Munyaneza et al 2008).…”