Adam Stroiński

From micropterism to hyperpterism: recognition strategy and standardized homology-driven terminology of the forewing venation patterns in planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha)

Abstract Following recent advances in the morphological interpretations of the tegmen basal cell margins in the Paraneoptera, a standardized and homology-driven groundplan terminology for tegmina types, structures and vein patterns in Hemiptera Fulgoromorpha, including fossils, is proposed. Each term is listed with a morphological definition, compared and linked to the main systems of planthopper forewing description that have been reviewed. The importance of a standardized and homology-driven terminology is stressed to enhance the quality of data in taxonomic descriptions and to strengthen phylogenetic morphological analysis results. When the interpretation of the origin of vein branches is render difficult, a three-step strategy for pattern recognition of the vein is proposed based on two principles: (1) vein forks are more informative than topology of the vein branches: a search for homologous areas, the nodal cells in particular, must first guide the recognition rather the number of branches of a vein, and (2) minimum of ad hoc evolutionary events should be invoked in the understanding of a modified vein pattern. Examples of some conflicting interpretations of venation patterns in planthoppers are discussed within different families for both extant and extinct taxa. For the first time, the concept of brachypterism is defined in a non-relative way independently from other structures, and the new one of hyperpterism is proposed; a reporting system is proposed for each of them.

Austrini - a new tribe of Tropiduchidae planthoppers from the Eocene Baltic amber (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha)

Abstract A new tribe Austrini n. trib. of Tropiduchidae planthoppers from the Eocene Baltic amber is described to comprise Austris raffelis n. gen., n. sp. Fossils ascribed to family Tropiduchidae are discussed.

Recent Dispersal and Diet Relaxation Might Explain the Monotypic and Endemic Genus Montrouzierana Signoret, 1861 in New Caledonia (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Tropiduchidae)

Abstract. The planthopper genus Montrouzierana Signoret, 1861 (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Tropiduchidae) and its only known endemic species to New Caledonia, M. oxycephala (Montrouzier, 1861), are redescribed. Illustrations of diagnostic characters including male and female genitalia are provided. The systematic position of the genus is briefly discussed. Morphological characters and distribution data suggest a recent dispersal event to New Caledonia, probably from Australia, linked with a possible relaxation/inhibition of ancestral constraints on feeding behaviour.

Revision of an extraordinary Selizini genus Urana Melichar, 1902 from Madagascar (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Flatidae)

This paper revises an extraordinary Madagascan genus Urana Melichar, 1902, with two species Urana paradoxa Melichar, 1902 and Urana unica sp. nov. The genus represents the tribe Selizini of the subfamily Flatinae. Additionally, distribution of the genus is discussed.

The first records of the Nearctic treehopper Stictocephala bisonia in Poland (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Membracidae) with some comments on this potential pest

The first records of the Nearctic treehopper Stictocephala bisonia in Poland (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Membracidae) with some comments on this potential pest Stictocephala bisonia Kopp et Yonke, 1977 has been recorded for the first time in three localities in Poland. This is a Nearctic species introduced into Europe at the beginning of the 20th century and has expanded its range ever since. We briefly characterize this new treehopper and provide a key to the identification of the Polish species of Membracidae.

A new lophopid genus as another piece in the biogeographical history puzzle of the family in the Sunda Shelf (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Lophopidae)

A new Lophopidae genus Binaluana gen. nov. and species B. emarginata sp. nov. from Palawan are described. Characters are given in order to distinguish this new genus from Bisma and Zeleja that share general figure with it. The morphological characters are coded for the genus and a new phylogenetic analysis using parsimony is performed. The Lophopidae remain monophyletic and Binaluana is placed as sister group of the genus Bisma. (Zeleja (Binaluana+Bisma)) is monophyletic and emerges at the base of the Zeleja+ group. The place of Binaluana within the Lophopidae is discussed along with its historical biogeographic origin.

Kirkamflata, a New Planthopper Genus from Socotra Island (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Flatidae)

Abstract. The paper describes a new genus of the Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Flatidae, Kirkamflata gen. nov., and a new species K. socotrana sp. nov. from the Hagher Mountains in central Socotra island (Yemen). Habitus, external morphology, male and female terminalia and internal genital structures of the new species are illustrated. The new genus is similar to Latois Stål, 1866 in head morphology, wing shape and venation, male and female terminalia but differs in a rudimentary median carina on pronotum and mesonotum, longer apical cells of tegmen and details of the male reproductive parts: style, periandrium, aedeagus, as well as female ones: gonapophysis VIII and diverticulum ductus.

Thionia douglundbergi sp. nov. from the Miocene Dominican Amber (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Issidae) with Notes on Extinct Higher Planthoppers

Abstract. The new extinct species Thionia douglundbergi sp. nov. of the recent genus Thionia Stål, 1859 from the Miocene Dominican amber is described. The morphological features of the genus are discussed in brief. The fossil record of ‘higher’ Fulgoroidea in New World fossil resins is discussed.

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

A new tribe of Tropiduchidae planthoppers is described from the Baltic amber— Gedanotropidini trib. nov., with a new genus and species Gedanotropis sontagae gen. et sp. nov. A key to the tribes and genera of Tropiduchidae from the Eocene Baltic amber is presented. Use of FT-IR spectrophotometry for confirmation of provenance of museum material and its documentation is proposed. The ecoevolutionary consequences of particular morphological characters of the new taxa and ‘flatoidinisation syndrome’ are introduced and discussed. Jacek Szwedo. Laboratory of Evolutionary Entomology, Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, 59, Wita Stwosza St., PL80-308 Gdańsk, Poland. jacek.szwedo@biol.ug.edu.pl Adam Stroiński. Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 64, Wilcza St., PL00-679 Warszawa, Poland. adam@miiz.waw.pl

Tip of the clade on the top of the World--the first fossil Lophopidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) from the Palaeocene of Tibet.

Lophopidae is a family of planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) present today in tropical and subtropical zones of the Old World. The most recent taxonomic studies and phylogeny of these insects do not include the extinct representatives. Therefore, each new discovery of a fossil lophopid is of high interest, giving new insights to their evolutionary history and enabling to test the proposed relationships. The recent findings of extinct Lophopidae in Europe, in various Palaeogene deposits, put in doubts their proposed evolutionary and biogeographic scenario. The new fossil from the Palaeocene of Northern Tibet is related to one of the Lophopidae clades, Apia+ group, believed to be the most advanced one, and recently distributed in the recent Sundaland-New Guinea-Queensland area. A new genus and species Gesaris gnapo gen. et sp. n. provide information on early lophopids diversity and relationships and demonstrates the necessity for a revision of the existing hypotheses for the initial diversification and distributional pattern of the Lophopidae.