The superfamily Membracoidea of sap-sucking true-bugs includes two of the largest families within what used to be called the "Homoptera": the

leafhopper A leafhopper is the common name for any species from the family Cicadellidae. These minute insects, colloquially known as hoppers, are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or trees. Their hind legs are modified for jumping, and ...

s ( Cicadellidae) and the

treehopper Treehoppers (more precisely typical treehoppers to distinguish them from the Aetalionidae) and thorn bugs are members of the family Membracidae, a group of insects related to the cicadas and the leafhoppers. About 3,200 species of treehoppers i ...

s ( Membracidae). The other families in this group are quite small, and have, at various points, generally been included as members within other families, though they are all presently considered to be valid,

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

groups. The

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

family

Myerslopiidae Myerslopiidae is a family of tree-hoppers which consist of about 20 species in three genera with a distribution limited to New Zealand and Chile. Adult hoppers have a strongly sclerotized body with elytra-like tegmina meeting along the median. Th ...

is restricted to New Zealand and South America while the Melizoderidae consist of two genera restricted to South America. The great diversity of Neotropical taxa suggests that the group originated in that region. The Membracoidea share the following anatomical characteristics, a tentorium which is incomplete, the midcoxae are enlarged; and the mid and hind tibiae have rows of setae. The position of Jascopidae represented by ''Jascopus notabilis'' and ''Homopterulum jelli'' is not entirely clear but they have setal rows on the front and middle tibiae.

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