Faltalini

Members of Faltalini share six diagnostic characters of the female genitalia: phragma of male genital capsule partly developed into sclerotized plates or setose bulbous lobes (except Acrolithus); first valvula relatively straight with dorsal sculpturing separated from dorsal margin by unsculptured band; first valvula dorsal sculpturing maculose or granulose with maculae separate or slightly overlapping; first valvula with distinctly delimited ventral sculptured area; and second valvula without dorsal teeth. The tribe exhibits exceptional morphological diversity in head shape, wing length, venation, and male genitalia, making visual identification to tribe level difficult without dissection.

Species occupy open or grassland habitats; the tribe's ancestor is hypothesized to have inhabited forested environments. The shift to open habitats is correlated with the evolution of brachyptery in multiple lineages.

New World distribution from the southwestern United States south through Mexico, Central America, and South America to Argentina and Chile. Documented from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

Brachyptery (wing reduction) has evolved in a stepwise pattern within the tribe. Subbrachypterous females occur in Hecullus and Acrolithus. Completely brachypterous males and females characterize the monophyletic "Faltala group" of eight genera (Aequcephalus, Dietrichana, Virganana, Clorindaia, Faltala, Kramerana, Paraclorindaia, and Ackbaria).

• Other Deltocephalinae tribesFaltalini is difficult to distinguish from other deltocephaline tribes based on external morphology alone; definitive identification requires examination of female genitalia characters, particularly first and second valvulae structure.

• BugGuide
• Wikipedia
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Catalogue of Life
• Revision of the New World leafhopper tribe Faltalini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) and the evolution of brachyptery