Genus Taphura Stål, 1862

Cicada (Taphura) Stål 1862: 20 .

TYPE SPECIES. Cicada misella Stål 1854: 243 (Brazil, Minas Gerais).

Remarks. The genus was recently revised with a number of new species added including one from Panama (Sanborn 2017a). All species are relatively small (body length 6–18 mm) and the males possess elaborate genitalia that permit species to be diagnosed easily. The head is wider than the mesonotum in Taphura that distinguishes Taphura species from Dorachosa Distant, 1892 whose eyes are angled posteriorly and about as wide as the mesonotum. Species of Selymbria (formerly assigned to the Taphurini) can be distinguished by their larger body size, the expansion of ventrolateral tergite 2 extending towards or covering part of the timbal, the opercula are larger and more lobate reaching to sternite II, the widely sulcate postclypeus of most species, the highly angled tergite-epipleurite margin, and the flattened claspers of the male genitalia (Sanborn 2017a).

Distribution. The genus is found over much of South America including references to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Peru, Surinam, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela (Metcalf 1963c; Duffels & van der Laan 1985; Sanborn 2011a; 2013; 2016b; 2017a; Sanborn & Heath 2014). Panama represents the northernmost range of the genus.