Fulgoroidea Dictyopharidae 
5 
placed in this family were added by the earlier European systematic en- 
tomologists. Although the genus Didyophara Germar was not described 
until 1833, Spinola in 1839 recognized that this genus together with the new 
genera Plegmaloptera and Dichoptera constituted a distinct subfamily. Also 
included in this subfamily were the genera Monopsis Spin, and Elidiptera 
Spin, at present placed in the families Tropiduchidae and Achilidae re- 
spectively. During the middle of the nineteenth century Stal and Walker 
added many new genera and species to this group. Later in the nineteenth 
century and the early part of the twentieth century many contributions 
were made by Ball, de Bergevin, Fennah, Jacobi, Kirkaldy, Kusnezov, 
Muir, Osborn, Oshanin, Schmidt, Uhler, Van Duzee, and others. But 
Melichar’s Monographie der Dictyophorinen (1912) remains the greatest 
single contribution that has been made to the study of these insects up to 
the present time. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 
The species of this family are widely distributed in all parts of the world 
save the extreme Arctic and Antarctic regions. This family reaches its great- 
est development, however, in the tropical regions of the world. The family 
seems to be especially well developed in South America, the Oriental Region 
and the East Indies. Many species are confined to the arid and semiarid 
regions of the world where they seem to be very local in their distribution 
and often confined to a single host plant. The faunas of North America, 
Central America, Japan and India are fairly well known, but vast regions 
of the world have hardly been explored. The geographic distribution of each 
species is indicated by superscript figures at the end of the lines, which cor- 
respond to geographic regions designated by the same superscript figures. 
In general we have indicated the distribution as given by the author of the 
reference, using the country as the smallest unit except in the larger coun- 
tries, where states and provinces are used as the smallest units. In the larger 
island groups the individual islands are indicated wherever possible, in view 
of the importance of island endemism. 
FORM OF THE PRESENT CATALOGUE 
This catalogue follows the general form of the present series. The family 
is divided into subfamilies and tribes, and the genera are arranged under 
each category in as nearly a phylogenetic order as our present knowledge 
will permit. The species are arranged under the genera in alphabetic se- 
quence. Titles of books are not abbreviated but are condensed if they are 
unduly long. The abbreviations of journal references follow in general the 
scheme proposed in the World List of Scientific Periodicals with minor ex- 
ceptions, the chief difference being that the names of countries, states, 
cities and other geographical units are not abbreviated. A few references 
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