Genus Smicrocotis Kirkaldy
Smicrocotis
obscura Kirkaldy, male
Genus Smicrocotis Kirkaldy 1906: 370. Type species: Smicrocotis obscura Kirkaldy, by monotypy
Known species: Three species are known: the widespread S. obscura Kirkaldy, S. solomoni Evans from Western Australia and S. brunneus (Evans) from NSW.
Comments: Further work is needed to determine the true status of these three species. It is possible that the range of forms are all part of a highly variable species, which has been shown to be the case in other stenocotine genera. However, it is also possible that numerous species can be differentiated across Australia. One species, S. obscura, has been recorded feeding at night and tended by sugar ants, Camponotus consobrinus, in two widely separated localities (Shcherbakov et al. 2000). This is the first record of ant attendance in the Ledrinae, although ant attendance is well known in other groups of leafhoppers, such as the Membracidae, Xestocephalinae and the Eurymelinae.