Tambocerus Zhang & Webb, 1996

Yao, Binbin, Dietrich, Christopher H. & Xing, Jichun, 2022, Description of a new species of the leafhopper genus Tambocerus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) from Guizhou, China, Zootaxa 5169 (1), pp. 87-92 : 88

Tambocerus Zhang & Webb, 1996

Tambocerus Zhang & Webb, 1996: 8 ; Shen, Shang & Zhang, 2008: 243; Viraktamath, 2012: 44 ; Qu & Dai, 2014: 48 ; Naveed & Zhang, 2018: 237 .

Type species: Selenocephalus disparatus Melichar, 1903 .

Diagnosis. Tambocerus can be distinguished by the following combination of characters: body robust, yellow with numerous small brown irregular spots; vertex slightly produced medially, with transverse ridges on anterior margin; male pygofer lobe serrate or with tooth- or spine-like process; connective Y-shaped with stem longer than arms; and aedeagal shaft with lateral margins serrated.

Distribution. China, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

Notes. The tribal placement of Tambocerus has been controversial. Zhang & Webb (1996) placed the genus in the tribe Selenocephalini based on the fore margin of the head with transverse striations. It was transferred to the rather poorly characterized deltocephaline tribe Athysanini ( Viraktamath, 2012) . However, the recent phylogenomic analysis of Cao et al. (2022) consistently placed Tambocerus in together with the Afrotropical genus Odzalana Linnavuori (currently placed in Drabescini) and the Oriental genera Sychentia Wei & Webb (placed in Stegelytrini) and Orientus DeLong (placed in Athysanini ) in a clade sister to a larger lineage of mostly Afrotropical genera (tribes Penthimiini in part, Bonaspeiini and Selenocephalini ). Thus, the tribal placement of Tambocerus should be considered uncertain at present.