Cephisus
Creators: name: Hamilton, Andrew
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aphrophoridae
Cephisus

description: Key to species of Cephisus
1. Black to dark brown with frons and tylus yellow to orange (Figs 1 C–D); frons inflated, lacking coronal margin (Fig. 2 C)................................................................................... xanthocephala (Walker)
1’ Brown, usually mottled without paler frons (Figs 1 E–H); frons not inflated, with angled coronal margin (Figs 2 D–F)....... 2
2. Head small, 0.75x as wide as pronotum.................................................................... 7
2’ Head larger, 0.80–0.85x as wide as pronotum............................................................... 3
3. Males.............................................................................................. 9
3’ Females............................................................................................. 4
4. Head 0.85x as wide as pronotum; coast of Gulf of California....................................... laticeps sp. nov.
4’ Head 0.80x as wide as pronotum; highlands of Mexico and southwestern USA to Brazil ............................. 5
5. Range: Venezuela to Brazil .............................................................. diminutus (Walker)
5’ Range: Central America to USA ......................................................................... 6
6. Length 12.7–13.5 mm; tegmina 8.0– 10.5 mm long; lowlands of the southern end of the Gulf of Mexico .. brevipennis sp. nov.
6’ Length 13.5–18 mm; tegmina 11–15 mm long; Central America north in highlands of Mexico to USA ................................................................................................ variolosus (Walker), complex
7. Entirely dark brown; crown coplanar with front of pronotum in lateral aspect; ventral processes of theca tip serrate (Fig. 14 B)...................................................................................... jacobii Lallemand
7’ Distinctly mottled with pale brown, at least on pronotum; crown with at least apical half at a distinctly shallower angle than that of front of pronotum (as in Fig. 3 B); ventral processes of theca tip unarmed (Fig. 13 B).......................... 8
8. Female longer than 18 mm; male 17.4 mm .................................................. magnificus sp. nov.
8’ Female not more than 17.6 mm, male not more than 12 mm ..................................... siccifolia (Walker)
9. Lateral processes of theca blunt-tipped, apically serrate (Figs 8 A–B)............................. diminutus (Walker)
9’ Lateral processes of theca with tips tapered, pointed (Figs 9–13 B)............................................. 10
10. Lateral processes of theca broad almost to tip (Fig. 13 B), in posterior aspect usually viewed edge-on; South America ............................................................................................. siccifolia (Walker)
10’ Lateral processes of theca in posterior aspect evenly tapered to tip (Fig. 12 B); Central America to southern USA ....... 11
11. Head 0.80x as wide as pronotum; lateral margin of pronotum 3/4 as long as eye, or longer; central America north to the high- lands of Mexico and southwestern USA ............................................. variolosus (Walker), complex
11’ Head 0.85x as wide as pronotum; lateral margin of pronotum less than 3/4 as long as eye; lowlands of coastal Mexico ... 12
12. Pronotum with blackish transverse band between humeral angles; ventral processes of theca tip 2.0x as long as lateral pro- cesses (Fig. 9 B); west coast of Mexico ......................................................... laticeps sp. nov.
12’ Pronotum marked only with blackish wrinkles, or a blackish transverse band broadly interrupted at middle; ventral processes of theca tip 1.5x as long as lateral processes (Fig. 15 B); east coast of Mexico ....................... brevipennis sp. nov.
description: Published as part of Hamilton, Andrew, 2012, Revision of Neotropical aphrophorine spittlebugs, part 1: Ptyelini (Hemiptera, Cercopoidea), pp. 41-59 in Zootaxa 3497 on pages 47-48, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.282460