Gerasimos Cassis

Tingid classification has been problematic since the recognition of the family. The exaggerated ornamentation of many tingids has caused confusion in morphology-based phylogenies due to convergence. Also, some genera, like Ulonemia, lack exaggerated structures and their diagnoses rely on reduced morphology, making identification difficult. The relationship between these genera is of great interest, as several species of Ulonemia have recently become pests of Macadamia, and several of these genera are found on other Proteaceae. We used 16S, COI, 18S, and 28S to determine genus-level relationships of Ulonemia and other Australian Tingidae using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference. We also analysed a morphological dataset using maximum parsimony. The parsimony analysis yielded numerous morphological homoplasies, and most deep clades lacked support. The ML and Bayesian analyses had strong support and returned a paraphyletic Ulonemia with three strongly supported clades. Two new genera, Cercotingis gen. nov. and Proteatingis gen. nov., are erected and Ulonemia redescribed to account for the observed phylogenies. Three new species of Cercotingis (C. croajingolong sp. nov., C. namadgi sp. nov., and C. tasmaniensis sp. nov.) and four new species of Proteatingis (Pr. astibosetes sp. nov., Pr. howardi sp. nov., Pr. minuta sp. nov., and Pr. xouthos sp. nov.) are described, with keys to species of Cercotingis and Proteatingis.