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We present an annotated and illustrated type catalogue of the predacious shieldbugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae), housed in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. This work involves recognising types and their status, recording their label data and providing images of both the types and their labels. Although we personally refrain from designating lectotypes as the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature recommends that it should be done “as part of a revisionary or other taxonomic work” (ICZN 1999: Recommendation 74G), we have nevertheless accepted that lectotypes were designated before 2000 (see ICZN 1999: Art. 74 §§ 5 and 6), for the following 43 species: by Distant (1880) for Apateticus halys Dallas, Arma fuscescens Dallas, Arma modesta Dallas, Arma tincta Dallas, Oplomus rutilus Dallas, Oplomus ventralis Dallas, Stiretrus ornatus Dallas, Stiretrus ruficeps Dallas; by Synave (1969) for Mecosoma floridum Distant and Podisus volxemi Distant; by Thomas (1992) for Arma ampla Walker, Arma grandis Dallas, Arma lateralis Walker, Arma nigrispina Dallas, Arma obscura Dallas, Mormidea semialba Walker, Oplomus equestris Distant, Oplomus festivus Dallas, Oplomus nigripennis Dallas, Oplomus pulcher Dallas, Oplomus stellatus Distant, Oplomus violaceus Dallas, Platynopus conspersus Walker, Podisus amulae Distant, Podisus falcatus Distant, Podisus gaumeri Distant, Podisus insignis Distant, Podisus nigriventris Distant, Podisus sculptus Distant, Podisus smithi Distant, Stiretrus annulatus Distant, Stiretrus caeruleus Dallas, Supputius typicus Distant, Tynacantha marginata Dallas, Tynacantha splendens Distant, Zicrona cuprea Dallas and Zicrona marginella Dallas; and by Thomas (1994) for Anasida funebris Distant, Damarius bicolor Distant, Neoglypsus opulentus Distant, Neoglypsus viridicatus Distant, Incitatus primus Distant, and Jalloides versicolor Distant. We have also found out that Synave (1969) had designated the lectotype of Glypsus erubescens Distant before Linnavuori (1975). A syntype of Oplomus distinctus Distant, 1880 is located and Thomas’s (1992: 57) synonymy of this species with O. catena (Drury, 1782) is confirmed. Informations regarding labels used by the first five curators of Hemiptera at the Natural History Museum, London (Adam White, William S. Dallas, Francis Walker, William L. Distant and William E. China) are provided. In total, we list herein 248 specimens examined in NHMUK (49 holotypes, 41 lectotypes, 84 syntypes, 17 paratypes, 25 paralectotypes, and 32 non-types which are historical specimens), representing 149 nominal species or 104 currently valid species (ca. 34% of the just over 300 valid Asopinae species worldwide).

A new facultatively cavernicolous planthopper species Borysthenes hainanensis sp. n., from Hainan Island, China, is described and illustrated. Specimens collected from lava tubes and above ground were found to be the same species but males of the former have smaller eyes. Distribution maps of the new and other species are given together with a checklist to all Borysthenes species and a key to Chinese ones. Type images of most Borysthenes species are also provided including Borysthenes dilectus (Walker), comb. n.

Recently discovered amber-preserved fossil Cicadellidae exhibit combinations of morphological traits not observed in the modern fauna and have the potential to shed new light on the evolution of this highly diverse family. To place the fossils explicitly within a phylogenetic context, representatives of five extinct genera from Cretaceous Myanmar amber, and one from Eocene Baltic amber were incorporated into a matrix comprising 229 discrete morphological characters and representatives of all modern subfamilies. Phylogenetic analyses yielded well resolved and largely congruent estimates that support the monophyly of most previously recognized cicadellid subfamilies and indicate that the treehoppers are derived from a lineage of Cicadellidae. Instability in the morphology-based phylogenies is mainly confined to deep internal splits that received low branch support in one or more analyses and also were not consistently resolved by recent phylogenomic analyses. Placement of fossil taxa is mostly stable across analyses. Three new Cretaceous leafhopper genera, Burmotettix gen. nov., Kachinella gen nov., and Viraktamathus gen. nov., consistently form a monophyletic group distinct from extant leafhopper subfamilies and are placed in Burmotettiginae subfam. nov. Extinct Cretaceous fossils previously placed in Ledrinae and Signoretiinae are recovered as sister to modern representatives of these groups. Eomegophthalmus Dietrich and Gonçalves from Baltic amber consistently groups with a lineage comprising treehoppers, Megophthalminae, Ulopinae, and Eurymelinae but its position is unstable. Overall, the morphology-based phylogenetic estimates agree with recent phylogenies based on molecular data alone suggesting that morphological traits recently used to diagnose subfamilies are generally informative of phylogenetic relationships within this group.