TAXONOMIC STUDY OF FAMILY CICADELLIDAE (HEMIPTERA) IN TANDOJAM, SINDH, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The leafhopper fauna contributed in present work contains both Palaearctic elements e.g. from Iran and Afghanistan and Oriental elements e.g. from India, together with a desert fauna that extends from Pakistan, Tharparkar to W. Africa. All elements can be recognized in the present work together with several cosmopolitan genera and species. All the collected specimens were carefully studied and compared with the types present in the Natural History Museum, London, Zoological Museum University of Karachi and pertinent literature. Present work constitutes five subfamilies: Deltocephalinae, Typhlocybinae, Megophthalminae, Cicadellinae and Idiocerinae. A total of 92 genera and 201 species of Cicadellidae are updated from the region including 3 new species, 32 new records 19 synonymies and 4 new combinations: Deltocephalinae with 31 genera, 57 species, 2 new species, 28 new records, 16 new synonyms and 4 new combinations; Megophthalminae with 5 genera, 10 species, 4 new records; Typhlocybinae with 51 genera, 126 species and 1 new synonym; Cicadellinae with 1 genus and 2 species and Idiocerinae with 5 genera, 6 species, 1 new species and 2 new synonyms. From Tandojam in total 30 genera and 44 species of leafhoppers are studied. Notes are provided for the new species previously described from Pakistan and for other genera and species from the region that are recorded here. Forty nine species are figured and imaged; Images of some type specimens from BMNH are given. Key to the subfamilies, tribes, genera and species are also provided. The checklist is provided for all five subfamilies; all are updated only with verified species from literature and present collection. Distribution table of Deltocephalinae is divided into 6 groups: Cosmopolitan (Old and New World), S. Palaearctic and Old World tropics, S. Palaearctic and Pakistan, Endemic to Pakistan, Oriental and Oriental & Pacific. The measurements in millimetre is provided for all figured specimens. Reassessment of the past work as presented here seems appropriate and will provide a good framework for future taxonomic work.