Ledrini, Evans, 1947

Jones, Joshua R. & Deitz, Lewis L., 2009, Phylogeny and systematics of the leafhopper subfamily Ledrinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) 2186, Zootaxa 2186 (1), pp. 1-120 : 31-32

Tribe Ledrini

Type genus Ledra Fabricius 1803

Primary Synonymy. Petalocephalini Metcalf 1962 , unavailable name, NEW SYNONYM.

Description. Dorsum coarsely pitted or knobbed. Head spatulate and lamellate or foliaceous anterolaterally. Crown uneven with shallow ridges or knobs. Face generally concave. Episternum of pronotum entirely exposed, large, quadrate and situated ventrally, or collar-like and wrapping around laterally onto pronotum. Forewings punctate, venation reticulate in apical two-thirds. Mesothoracic tibia row II apex with long triangular patch of scalelike setae sometimes arranged in row perpendicular to axis of leg. Male genitalia: Pygofer with or without basidistal processes, with or without inner dorsomedial subapical processes; plates as long as or longer than pygofer, originating from pygofer dorsoventrally depressed, then often flexing along their axes to become laterally compressed and slightly cuplike apically; segment X (anal tube) usually with ventral lobe; aedeagus highly variable, with or without subapical and apical processes; paraphyses sometimes present. Female genitalia: Valvulae II long and moderately slender, usually well-sclerotized, usually with a primary subapical dorsal tooth situated closer to apex than to midpoint, often with a secondary subapical dorsal tooth situated between primary tooth and apex, and a subapical dorsal notch occurring immediately posterad of second tooth; supranumerary teeth generally absent; median perpendicular keel sometimes present.

Range. Afrotropical, Australian, Indomalayan, and Palearctic regions.

Ecology. Generally associated with trees and woody shrubs, both conifers and angiosperms.

Remarks. Metcalf (1962), in his General Catalogue of the Homoptera, created the new tribe Petalocephalini to include all of the genera formerly in the tribe Ledrini , except Ledra . However, he provided no formal description for this new tribe. Articles 13.1 and 13.1.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) explain that “every new name published after 1930 must…be accompanied by a description or definition that states in words characters that are purported to differentiate the taxon…” The exclusionary clause that would validate new names lacking such a description if a subsequent author treated them as valid (Art. 13.2.1) only applies to names first published after 1930 and before 1961.

Though at least one author has placed a new genus in Petalocephalini ( Cai 1994b) , no one has made a formal description of the tribe or used it in a key. Kramer (1966) and Linnavuori (1972) refrained from recognizing any tribes in their revisions of the New World and African Ledrinae . Evans (1969) recognized Ledrini but not Petalocephalini , and Hamilton (1983) Dietrich (2000, 2005), and Szwedo (2002) treated Petalocephalini as a junior synonym of Ledrini .

Various authors ( Ren and Zhang 2001; Shih et al. 2001) have removed some of the genera of Petalocephalini to Ledrini , and Oman et al. (1990) included ledrine genera in both tribes. When the genera of Petalocephalini and Ledrini are coded according to their respective placements (not shown) sensu Oman et al., they appear as grossly polyphyletic.

As Petalocephalini appears to be an invalid name, it is therefore recognized here as unavailable. That it is paraphyletic with respect to Ledrini and has been treated by a junior synonym of Ledrini by several authors are additional reasons to officially remove it from usage.

The following described genera are here considered to belong in Ledrini : Arenoledra , Beniledra , Chatura , Complanledra , Confucius , Destinia , Destinoides , Dusuna , Eleazara , Ezrana , Funkikonia , Hangklipia , Jukaruka , Kuohledra , Laticorona , Ledra , Ledropsella , Ledropsis , Midoria , Neotituria , Paraconfucius , Parapetalocephala , Petalocephala , Petalocephaloides , Platyjassites , Latycephala , Platyledra , Porcorhinus , Thlasia , Titiella , and Tituria .

Cwikla (1987) suggested that the Chilean species Ledra episcopalis Walker (not available for examination) — considered by Kramer (1966) to be of uncertain placement within Ledrinae —superficially resembled Bascarrhinus . It is herein considered unplaced within Ledrinae until it can be examined.

Several ledrine genera that were not available for examination in this study have been weakly characterized, and their formal descriptions do not provide sufficient diagnostic features to satisfactorily distinguish them from other genera, as noted in their sections. For this reason they are not included in the key to the Ledrini genera below. The extinct genus Platyjassites is also not included.