Phylogeny and biogeography of N eotropical spittlebugs ( H emiptera: C ercopidae: I schnorhininae): revised tribal classification based on morphological data

• Published in: Systematic entomology 2015-01, Vol.40 (1), p.82-108
• Main Authors: PALADINI, ANDRESSA, TAKIYA, DANIELA M., CAVICHIOLI, RODNEY R., CARVALHO, GERVÁSIO S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0307-6970; 1365-3113
• DOI: 10.1111/syen.12091

The spittlebug family C ercopidae is currently divided into two subfamilies: the paraphyletic O ld W orld C ercopinae and the monophyletic N ew W orld I schnorhininae. The most recent classification scheme proposed by Fennah in 1968 divided the New World Cercopidae into four tribes: Tomaspidini, Ischnorhinini, Hyboscartini and Neaenini. Herein we present a phylogenetic analysis of I schnorhininae using 108 morphological characters and including 53 of the 59 recognized genera, to evaluate the tribal‐level classification and understand the processes underlying the current distributional patterns of these genera. We found significant support for the monophyly of many N eotropical genera, but F ennah's tribal classification is revised because tribes N eaenini, I schnorhinini and T omaspidini were recovered as polyphyletic. Hyboscartini was synonymized with T omaspidini. A taxonomic key to tribes and genera of N eotropical spittlebugs is provided based mostly on recovered apomorphies. The biogeographical analysis suggests a N eotropical origin of ischnorhinines, more specifically in northwestern S outh A merica. This was possibly coincident spatially and temporally with the origin of grasses, with ancestral range expansions southward to the A mazonian and P araná regions, and posterior vicariant events, possibly related to the expansion of forests in the C hacoan region, the S outh A merica diagonal of open formations. Dispersals to the C hacoan region and to the N earctic region are hypothesized to have occurred only within genera. In the C hacoan region it is associated with more recent events, such as the diversification of C4 grasses and establishment of the savannas and seasonally dry forests.