Taxonomia e reportes ecológicos para Cixiidae Spinola, 1839 (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoroidea) de cavernas brasileiras

Abstract

The present dissertation was built in four parts and three chapters, the chapter I “Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha”, will be part of the book “Fauna cavernícola do Brasil”, prepared as material for environmental compensation by the company Vale SA In this chapter, we provided information on ecology and habitat of the main groups of planthoppers that occur in caves in Brazil. Additionally, we propose an identification key for the main groups occurring in the Brazilian subterranean habitats. In addition, we discuss the main threats to the troglobitic Fulgoroidea species described for Brazil and propose ways for conservation. In Chapter II (Article I), we provide a preliminary review of the taxonomy of the genus Pintalia Stål, 1862 for Brazil, where we redescribe the nine species of the type series proposed by Stål (1862). In addition, we describe twelve new species and allocate them into three subgenera, the first to be created for Pintalia Stål, 1862. Information on ecology, habitat, distribution, and an identification key for the new species and subgenera are also provided. In Chapter III (Article II), we report the first case of Adaptive Shifts in Brazilian cave planthoppers. We describe two new troglobitic species and the first epigean species referring to the genus Ferricixius Hoch and Ferreira, 2012. We discuss the speciation of leafhoppers in caves in Brazil and the main challenges for conservation. However, before the three chapters, a general introduction to the main topics covered in this dissertation is provided.