Platypleurini Schmidt 1918

Sanborn, Allen F., 2021, The cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of Madagascar including a new tribe, five new genera, twelve new species, four new species synonymies, five revised species status, ten new combinations, new tribal assignments for four genera, one new subtribe synonymy, a checklist and key to the species, Zootaxa 4937 (1), pp. 1-79 : 6

Tribe Platypleurini Schmidt 1918

Hamzaria Distant 1905a: 382.

Platypleurini Schmidt 1918: 378 .

Hainanosemiina Kato 1927: 278.

Orapini Boulard 1985: 1032.

Remarks.—The petition to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) asking to retain usage of the Platypleurini ( Marshall et al. 2018a) was recently supported (ICZN 2020). Price (2010) performed a genetic analysis that showed the Hamzini Distant, 1905a placed deep within the Platypleurini . Lee (2014) formally synonymized Platypleurini into Hamzini based on the principle of priority and the data in Price (2010). Price et al. (2019) synonymized Hamzini with Platypleurini based on the application to the ICZN. Orapini also was made a junior synonym of Platypleurini by Price et al. (2019).

Price et al. (2019) performed a multi-gene analysis of the tribe. They showed that several genera were polyphyletic and some of these have already been grouped into new genera (Sanborn 2020). The Madagascar species included in the analysis formed a distinct branch. Further analyses of additional genera are necessary to determine if all genera represented in Madagascar diverge from a single ancestral group or if multiple colonization events of the island occurred.

The Platypleurini are characterized by a vertically compressed body, head being about as wide or narrower than the mesonotum, eyes that do not protrude laterally, antennae with eight segments, lateral margins of the pronotum dilated and wider than the head, fore wings hyaline or opaque, generally with maculation, fore wing precostal area dilated, fore wings and hind wings with eight and six apical cells respectively, large timbal covers completely or almost enclosing the timbal cavity and extending anteriorly to metathorax, pygofer distal shoulder rounded, upper pygofer lobe absent, basal pygofer lobe developed, and digitate uncus ( Moulds 2005).