| Grasshoppers, distributing widely in the world, are general call of Acridoidea insects belonging to Caelifera of Orthoptera, most of which are pests in agriculture. The classification of Acridoidea has been a controversial issue for a long time and is a hotspot of phylogenetic research of Orthoptera. Acridoidea is generally divided into nine families by Chinese scholars, eight families of which are distributed in China. This taxonomic system is very different from the one used widespreadly by foreign scholars. Now the Chinese taxonomic system brings a huge obstacle for science communication with foreign scholars. In order to provide enough proofs for improving the taxonomic system of Acridoidea, it is necessary to study the phylogeny of nine families of Acridoidea based on molecular markers.First, using fragments of 18S rDNA, we studied the phylogenetic relationships among 22 species of nine familes of Acridoidea with NJ, MP, ML and Bayesian methods. The results are as follows: 1) The ingroups studied are divided into four clades on the molecular phylogenetic trees that we reconstructed. Clade â… consists of the species of Pyrgomorphidae and Chrotogonidae, Clade â…¡ consists of the species of Pneumoridae, Clade â…¢ consist of species of Pamphagidae and Clade â…£ contains species of Catantopidae, Oedipodidae, Arcypteridae, Gomphoceridae and Acrididae. 2) Because Pyrgomorphidae and Chrotogonidae are clustered alternately on molecular phylogenetic trees, they are not monophyletic. It is suggested that the two femilies should be combined into a family Pyrgomorphidae. 3) The phylogenetic trees indicate that the four families in Clade IV, including Catantopidae, Arcypteridae, Gomphoceridae and Acrididae, are not monophyletic. The relationships among the five families Clade IV contains are very close, so we suggest that these five families can be combined into a family Acrididae. 4) It is suggested that Acridoidea should be divided into four families, Pyrgomorphidae, Pneumoridae, Pamphagidae and Acrididae.Second, we explored the phylogeny of Catantopidae. For phylogenetic research of Catantopidae, 16S rDNA fragments were sequenced for 20 species from 10 subfamilies of the Catantopidae and 3 species of other families of Acridoidea, and the homologous sequences of 15 species of grasshoppers were downloaded from the GenBank data library. After alignment for these sequences of 38 species of grasshoppers, phylogenies were reconstructed by choosing Tetrix japonica and Teredorus carmichaeli as outgroup. The results are as follows: 1) The monophyly of Catantopidae is not supported by phylogenetictrees. 2) Inside of Cantantopidae, none of them including Coptacrinae, Oxyinae Melanoplinae, Podisminae, Caryandinae, Hieroglyphinae is supported as a monophyletic group. The results is very different from classification of Catantopidae based on morphology. 3) Combining Podisminae and Melanoplinae as an subfamily Podisminae is supported by phylogenetic trees. 4) These genera Caryanda, Oxya and Pseudonym are closely related to each other.Third, 16S rDNA fragments of Oedipodidae were sequenced for 15 individuals from 4 subfamilies of Oedipodidae, and the homologous sequences of 15 species of grasshoppers were downloaded from the GenBank data library. After aligment for these sequences of 30 species of grasshoppers, phylogenies were reconstructed by choosing Mekongiella kingdom of Chrotogonidae and Atractomorpha sinensis of Pyrgormorphidae as outgroups. The results are as follows: 1) All the species of Oedipodidae except for Trilophidia annulata are gathered together on the molecular phylogenetic trees. It is suggested that Oedipodidae should be as a subfamily Oedipodinae in Acrididae. 2) Bryodemellinae is not supported as a subfamily, and neither Locustinae nor Oedipodinae is supported as a monophyletic group on phylogenetic trees. The results of phylogeny research are not concordant with classification of Oedipodidae dividing into 4 subfamilies based on morphology. |
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