Molecular Phylogeny of the Grassland Leafhopper Tribe Hecalini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae)

The phylogenetic status and relationships of the globally distributed grassland leafhopper tribe Hecalini were explored by analyzing a DNA sequence dataset comprising three gene regions (nuclear 28S rDNA, histone H3, 12S mtDNA) for 14 genera and 29 species plus 9 outgroups. Bayesian, maximum likelihood, and maximum parsimony analyses recovered similar trees and supported the monophyly of Hecalini and its two included subtribes, but excluded the Oriental genus Hecalusina He, Zhang & Webb, the position of which was poorly resolved among the included outgroup taxa. Within subtribe Hecalina, the analysis recovered two major lineages, one including only New World taxa and the other including a second New World clade nested within a larger lineage comprising taxa from the Afrotropical, Oriental, and Australian regions. The large, widely distributed genus Hecalus was not recovered as monophyletic. Species of this genus grouped into two separate, noncontiguous clades, one North American and the other comprising African, Australian, and Oriental species.