Locris Stal , 1866

Bouteille, Emilien, Cesne, Maxime Le & Soulier-Perkins, Adeline, 2021, Cercopidae spittle-bugs (Hemiptera, Cicadomorpha) of Madagascar: a new species of Bourgoinrana and revision of the Locris species, ZooKeys 1023, pp. 29-47 : 29

Locris Stal, 1866

Type species.

Locris rubra (Fabricius, 1794)

The genus Locris Stål, 1866 was largely studied by Lallemand (1949) on the basis of morphological characters that are not all completely consistent in all species according to our observations. These characters are as follows: postclypeus rounded with a medio-longitudinal carina and transverse ridges, when observed laterally; it can be, either rounded ( L. rubra (Fabricius, 1794)), angular ( L. vestigans Jacobi, 1904) or protruding ( L. schmidti Jacobi, 1910). Rostrum is short and barely extends to base of median trochanters. Antennae are short and their length equals diameter of eyes. Vertex is broader than long and its length equals half width of pronotum. Ocelli are much closer to each other than to compound eyes and are medium to small in size, except in L. atra Lallemand, 1923 where they are very large ( Lallemand 1949). Pronotum is large, with a usually straight posterior margin but weakly indented in some species like L. maculata (Fabricius, 1781) according to Lallemand (1949) and may have a more or less distinct carina in middle. Scutellum is as long as wide and has three dimples, two small ones on anterior margin and one large centred. Tegmina are about 3 times as long as wide, cubital and median veins are fused from base to middle of tegmen, apical veins network is relatively dense. A spine is present on posterior tibiae. In genitalia, males have thin subgenital plates that look like a filament ( Lallemand 1949) curved up or downward; they are wide and sometimes silky at base.

In describing the genus Locris Lallemand (1949) listed a series of exceptions in order to include more species in the genus. As a result, our view is that now the homogeneity of the genus and its taxonomic unity is questionable. However, the aim of our work here is not to revise the entire genus (which is present in Madagascar and the whole of Africa except for the northern countries Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco) but to provide a clear identification for the few species and subspecies of Locris present in Madagascar.