Genus: Psallops Usinger, 1946

Psallops Usinger 1946: 86; Carvalho 1956: 42; Yasunaga 1999: 737; Lin 2004: 278, 2006: 413; Yasunaga et al. 2010: 94; Herczek 2011: 691; Herczek & Popov 2014a: 367; Herczek et al. 2017: 49; Namyatova & Cassis 2019a: 157; Kim et al. 2025: 194. Type species: Psallops oculatus Usinger, 1946 .

Note. Yasunaga et al. (2010) provided a diagnosis of the genus Psallops . More recently, Namyatova & Cassis (2019a) conducted a detailed morphological review of the Australian Psallops and presented the characters common to all Australian species. In this study, we comprehensively examine the Afrotropical species. Based on a review of previous studies and our findings, we present an updated diagnosis of the genus in a global context.

Diagnosis. Recognized by the following combination of characters: body small, 2–3.5 mm, oval to elongate oval, basic coloration brownish (ranging from pale to dark), densely covered with dark setae or two types of dark and golden setae; head distinctive, nearly lens-shaped in dorsal view, not projecting ventrally below inferior margins of the compound eyes; eyes enlarged, occupying most part of vertex, wider than interocular distance (except for P. madagascariensis), fully occupying the lateral surfaces of head, often approaching each other not only dorsally but also ventrally; posterior margin of vertex strongly concave, attenuated, covering apical margin of pronotum, lacking posterior lobes behind eyes; clypeus flat; first, second or fourth labial segment subdivided; hemelytra simple bicolorous, sometimes with mottled or minute spots; hind femur with nine trichobothria; parameres noticeably asymmetrical in shape and in length (except for P. madagascariensis and P. kalumburu); left paramere scytheshaped, sensory lobe broad and projected outwardly (except for P. kalumburu); right paramere simple, very small (except for P. madagascariensis and P. kalumburu) (updated from Yasunaga et al. (2010)).