Tribe Tartessini Distant, 1908

Museums

Regional Maps

• Tartessusaria Distant, W.L. 1908. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Rhynchota. London : Taylor & Francis Vol. 4 xv 501 pp. [301].

  Type genus:

   Tartessus Stål, 1865.

Introduction

The Tartessini are small to medium-sized leafhoppers with a distinctly heart-shaped pronotum and the appendix usually extending around the apex of the tegmen. Although primarily Australian, the subfamily is well represented in New Guinea with sparse representation in Asian countries from the Philippines to India and in Micronesia. The Australian fauna was revised by Faith Evans (1981) who discussed some of the plant associations and provided a key to genera. Although there are some distinctively patterned species, most tartessines require an examination of the male genitalia to be identified. Jones & Deitz (2009) transferred the tribes Stenocotini and Thymbrini from the subfamily Ledrinae to the Tartessinae and changed the status of the previously recognised Tartessinae (sensu F. Evans 1981) to Tribe Tartessini.

Diagnosis

Vertex about or more than three times broader between eyes than long; ocelli on or near the anterior margin of vertex and nearer eyes than to each other (Distant 1908).

The epistomal suture is retained to varying degrees and a complete differentiated frons may be present. The maxillary plates are broad and the supra-antennal ledges, which lie close to the anterior margins of the eyes, are well defined and usually transverse. The ocelli are situated either adjacent to the hind margin of the face or on the narrow crown which may be of even length throughout, longest against the eyes or, in species with produced heads, longest in the centre. The hind femur bears two pairs of apical spines and the hind tibia bears three rows of spines, the middle row having small spines between the larger spines. The tegmen usually has complete cicadellid venation and the appendix continues broadly around the apex. The hind wing has the marginal veins extending onto the anal area. The male genitalia, which are of great importance in species recognition, frequently have a pair of variously shaped accessory processes which arise from, or from near, the base of the Xth abdominal segment and sometimes, seemingly, from the base of the pygophore (Evans 1981).

ID Keys

Fletcher, M.J. (2009 and updates). Key to the leafhoppers and treehoppers of Australia and neighbouring areas (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). http://www1.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/leafhop/index.html (accessed 12.xii.2011)

Diagnosis References

Distant, W.L. 1908. Rhynchota. — Vol. IV. Homoptera and Appendix. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma 4: 1-501 [301]

Evans, F. 1981. The Tartessinae of Australia, New Guinea and some adjacent Islands (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Pacific Insects 23(1-2): 112-188 [112–113]

General References

Evans, F. 1981. The Tartessinae of Australia, New Guinea and some adjacent Islands (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Pacific Insects 23(1-2): 112-188

Jones, J.R. & Deitz, L.L. 2009. Phylogeny and systematics of the leafhopper subfamily Ledrinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Zootaxa (2186): 1–120

History of changes