Reassessment of the leafhopper tribes Koebeliini Baker and Grypotini Haupt (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

Abstract

Based on comparative morphology, the leafhopper tribe Grypotini Haupt 1929 is considered a junior synonym of Koebeliini Baker 1897 (new synonymy). Features uniting these taxa include ocelli below crown margin and not visible from above, distant from the compound eyes; anteclypeus long, narrow, and tapered; platellae present on the plantar surface of metathoracic tarsomere I; and nymphs with reduced abdominal chaetotaxy. Koebeliinae is considered a synonym of Deltocephalinae Dallas 1870, and Koebeliini is placed as a tribe within Deltocephalinae based largely on the male and female genitalia. Tribe Koebeliini as here defined includes subtribes Koebeliina, including only Koebelia Baker, and Grypotina, including Grypotes Fieber, Grypotellus Emel-janov, Pinopona Viraktamath and Sohi, Shivapona Ghauri and Viraktamath, and Sohipona Ghauri and Viraktamath, Thamnotettix sinae Stål is transferred to Pinopona. A redescription of Koebeliini and key to genera are provided. Species of this tribe seem to feed primarily on Pinus spp. (Pinaceae). Subtribe Koebeliina is restricted to the western Nearctic region. Species of Grypotina occur primarily in the Himalayan region, with two species distributed in the western Palearctic. © 2003 Entomological Society of America.