Biodiversity Of Cicadomorpha In Taibai Mountain Of Qinling Range

The infraorder Cicadomorpha of the Hemiptera includes three superfamilies, i.e., Cicadoidea, Membracoidea and Cercopoidea. So far, studies of Cicadomorpha in China were mainly focused on taxonomy, behavior and the control of related agriculture and forestry pests. Regarding Taibai Mountain, the chief peak of Qinling Range, the resource of animals and plants is greatly abundant. The huge mountain leads to climates and habitats differ widely between the north and south slopes, resulting species of animals and plants vary significantly with the increase of altitude. In the present study, the diversity of Cicadomorpha in Taibai Mountain is investigated, and the main results are as follows.In total, 49 species belonging to Membracoidea(34 leafhoppers and 15 treehoppers), 18 species belonging to Cercopoidea, and 6 species belonging to Cicadoidea were found in Taibai Mountain. In which leafhoppers were widely distributed throughout the vegetation zones of the mountain; spittle bugs, froghoppers and treehoppers were found in areas below the altitude of 2500 m; and cicadas were found in areas below the altitude of 1600 m.Shannon-Weaver index(H), Simpson diversity index(D) and the species evenness index(J) were used to analyze the diversity and the species evenness of Cicadomorpha in different habitats of Taibai Mountain. The results show that the diversity and species evenness of Cicadomorpha both decreased gradually with the rise of altitude. In areas of low altitude, the number of species, populations of related species, biodiversity and the species evenness of Cicadomorpha were higher than those in areas of higher altitude. In addition, the diversity and the species evenness of Cicadomorpha on the south slope were higher than corresponding area of the northern slope.Jaccard index and a cluster analysis using the software SPSS20.0(IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) showed that the composition and distribution of Cicadomorpha were related to the altitude and the vegatation of related areas. At the high-altitude forest zones, the Cicadomorpha compositions of adjacent zones of the same slope were much similar to each other; but in the low-altitude forest zones, the Cicadomorpha compositions of corresponding zones on different slopes were much similar to each other.Fauna analysis showed that the Cicadomorpha fauna components in Taibai Mountain were very complex, i.e., Palearctic species, Oriental species and widely-distributed species of Cicadomorpha coexisted here. In addition, the proportions of widely-distributed species, Oriental species and Palearctic species were 44.6%(33 species), 43.2%(31 species) and 12.2%(9 species), respectively. The results indicate that the Cicadomorpha fauna in Taibai Mountain are dominant by the widely-distributed and the Oriental species.