Revision of Neotropical Aphrophorine Spittlebugs, Part 3: A New Caribbean Tribe Leocomiini (Hemiptera, Cercopoidea)

K.G. Andrew Hamilton

Revision of Neotropical Aphrophorine Spittlebugs, Part 3: A New Caribbean Tribe Leocomiini (Hemiptera, Cercopoidea)

K.G. Andrew Hamilton*

*Research Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0C6.

Caribbean Naturalist, No. 11 (2014)

Abstract
A new tribe Leocomiini, related to Orthoraphini and Capnodistini, is described from the Caribbean Basin and Central America. Seven genera and 33 species are described and keyed, including 2 new genera, Arcadiana and Lepyronura, plus 12 new species: Arcadiana acunai and Dasyoptera spinifera from Cuba; Enocomia jamaicensis, Lepyronura bulbosa, and L. minuenda from Jamaica; L. furcata from Hispaniola; Epicranion martorelli from Puerto Rico; E. contrastum, E. ferrudorsum, Leocomia cincta, and L. pedestris from Central America; plus Epicranion (Conicranion subg.nov.) trispinatum from Venezuela. Asprocranites Ramos, 1957 is synonymized with Dasyoptera Metcalf & Bruner, 1925; Gaeta Metcalf & Bruner and Pseudocraniolum Hedicke are reduced to subgenera of Leocomia Ball; and Gaetopsis Ramos plus Leocomiopsis Metcalf and Bruner are made subgenera of Enocomia and Epicranion, respectively. These changes create 9 new combinations, and 2 other species are synonymized: Leocomia grisea (Metcalf and Bruner, 1925) with L. maestralis Metcalf and Bruner, 1925; and L. fulva (Metcalf and Bruner, 1925) with L. pileae (Metcalf and Bruner, 1925). One species is renamed Dasyoptera fasciata to replace the secondary homonym created when Asprocranites variegata Ramos, 1957 is transferred by generic synonymy. All these changes are summarized in a checklist. The phylogeny and distribution of Leocomiini indicates an origin on Caribbean islands with subsequent dispersal to the mainland.

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