Taphura Stål, 1862

Sanborn, Allen F., 2020, The cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of Ecuador including the description of five new species, a new subtribe, four new synonymies, and fifteen new records, Zootaxa 4880 (1), pp. 1-80 : 42-43

Genus Taphura Stål, 1862

Cicada (Taphura) Stål 1862: 20 .

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

REMARKS.—The genus was revised recently with a number of new species added including one from Ecuador ( Sanborn 2017a). All species of the genus are small (body length 6–18 mm) and the males possess elaborate genitalia that facilitate species diagnosis. Species of Selymbria (formerly assigned to the Taphurini but now assigned to their own tribe) can be distinguished by their larger body size, the expansion of ventrolateral tergite 2 extending towards or covering part of the timbal, the larger and more lobate opercula reaching to sternite II, the widely sulcate postclypeus of most species, the highly angled tergite-epipleurite margin, and the uncus of the male genitalia ( Sanborn 2017a).

DISTRIBUTION.—The genus has been recorded from much of South America with references to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela ( Metcalf 1963c; Duffels & van der Laan 1985; Sanborn 2011a; 2013; 2016b; 2017a; 2018c; 2019b; 2020b, e; Sanborn & Heath 2014). The first records for Ecuador were provided only recently ( Sanborn 2017a).