Taxonomic revision of the planthopper genus Melanoliarus Fennah, 1945 (Hemiptera: Delphacoidea: Cixiidae) north of Mexico

The genus Melanoliarus Fennah (Cixiidae: Cixiinae: Pentastirini) is a large genus (81 species) of planthoppers native to the Americas. As currently comprised, it is heterogeneous and includes most of the American species in the Pentastirini. We reviewed all described Melanoliarus species to devise diagnosable genus-groups based on external morphological and male genitalic characters. We define twelve new subgenera, resulting in 51 new combinations. One species is rendered a junior synonym and lectotypes are designated for three species. The genus Melanoliarus in the strict sense (subgenus Melanoliarus) is defined to include six species mostly endemic to the Antillean region. A key is provided for the genus-groups of American Pentastirini.