New canopy Central American leafhopper records from Costa Rica (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae), with notes on morphology and range expansion

Abstract Leafhoppers of the tribe Athysanini are commonly known to inhabit canopies of tropical forests among other habitats but remain among the least studied. The tribe is largely unsampled in most tropical forests and its particular natural history remains poorly understood in the Neotropical region. Most available data is held in museums with scarce specimens which have not been explored yet. In the present contribution, after an ongoing search in three Costa Rican collections a total of 34 specimens were located and studied in detail. Four arboreal leafhoppers species of the tribe Athysanini represent remarkable findings for Central America, in which Bonneyana caldwelli (Delong, 1946), Copididonus brunneus Zanol and Sakakibara, 1990, and Zabrosa sexpunctata (Beamer, 1939) are here presented as the first known records to Costa Rica; meanwhile Scaphoidula incisa Oman, 1937 was recorded all over Costa Rican forests. Variation in morphology of specimens studied and range expansion of distribution are discussed.