The phylogenetic relationships of the large, diverse genus Apocephalus Coquillett are studied using seven loci (16S, COI, NDI, 28S, AK, CAD, and TPI). Both Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood methods were used to analyze the sequences. Pre-existing taxonomic relationships, based on morphology, were largely upheld, with the notable exception of the subgenus Mesophora Borgmeier being placed deep inside the genus.Therefore, Mesophora was synonymized with Apocephalus (new synonymy) and its species referred to as belonging to the Apocephalus wheeleri group. Both methods of analysis recovered similar results, providing what we consider reasonable explanations of the data, based on morphological information.

The grasshopper family Acrididae is one of the most diverse lineages within Orthoptera, including more than 6,700 valid species distributed worldwide. Grasshoppers are dominant herbivores, which have diversified into grassland, desert, semi-aquatic, alpine, and tropical forest habitats, and exhibit a wide array of morphological, ecological, and behavioral diversity. Nevertheless, the phylogeny of Acrididae as a whole has never been proposed. In this study, we present the first comprehensive phylogeny of Acrididae based on mitochondrial genomes and nuclear genes to test monophyly of the family and different subfamilies as well as to understand the evolutionary relationships among them. We recovered the monophyletic Acrididae and identified four major clades as well as several well-characterized subfamilies, but we also found that paraphyly is rampant across many subfamilies, highlighting the need for a taxonomic revision of the family. We found that Acrididae originated in the Paleocene of the Cenozoic period (59.3 million years ago) and, because the separation of South America and Africa predates the origin of the family, we hypothesize that the current cosmopolitan distribution of Acrididae was largely achieved by dispersal. We also inferred that the common ancestor of modern grasshoppers originated in South America, contrary to a popular belief that they originated in Africa, based on a biogeographical analysis. We estimate that there have been a number of colonization and recolonization events between the New World and the Old World throughout the diversification of Acrididae, and, thus, the current diversity in any given region is a reflection of this complex history.

A segregate of Australian simuliids of Gondwanan provenance with unusual attributes is assigned to a new genus—Ectemnoides. Only one species was originally known, that from females of the eastern Australian (Victoria) Paracnephia umbratorum (Tonnoir) and its presumed larvae, which we fully confirm here.Three previously unknown related species, Ectemnoides acanthocranius n. sp., Ect. faecofilus n. sp. and Ect. uvulatus n. sp. from Western Australia are described.These four species have numbers of unusual synapomorphies. Of note is the habit of larvae of Ect. umbratorum and Ect. faecofilus to attach to the ends of constructed threads apparently composed of larval fecal pellets and other material, enclosed within a salivary silk matrix.The four species all have short spine-like setae on the larval head capsule and their body physiognomy is unusual, with head large in relation to a tubular body, with that being semitransparent when alive.Three otherWestern Australia simuliids, Ect. absitus n. sp., Ect. princeae n. sp. and Ect. sp. A., possess more typical attributes. Known larvae of the first two of these simuliids lack the marked head setae; however, in common with Ect. acanthocranius of the previous segregate, larvae of the three taxa lack the anal sclerite and have markedly low numbers of hooks comprising the posterior circlet. Details are given for distribution and, where known, bionomics.Trichomycetes are recorded for the second time from simuliids in Western Australia, from Ect. sp. A. Brief character analysis is provided, as are comments regarding historical biogeography.

Tettigoniidae (katydids) are a diverse group of insects that are well known for their leaf-like camouflage and acoustic signaling. We present the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of katydids based on five molecular markers (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, cytochrome c oxidase II, wingless, and histone 3) for 235 katydid taxa representing the overall diversity of the group. We specifically investigate the monophyly of katydid subfamilies and tribes and elucidate the origins and subsequent dispersal of katydids that has led to their cosmopolitan distribution. Katydids diverged from their ensiferan ancestor in the late Jurassic (∼155 MYA) and multiple transoceanic dispersals have resulted in katydids inhabiting nearly every terrestrial biome outside the arctic regions. We find that the subfamilies Zaprochilinae, Saginae, Pterochrozinae, Conocephalinae, Hexacentrinae, Hetrodinae, Austrosaginae, and Lipotactinae are monophyletic while Meconematinae, Listroscelidinae, Tettigoniinae, Pseudophyllinae, Phaneropterinae, Mecopodinae, and Bradyporinae are paraphyletic. This widespread paraphyly is largely due to the convergent evolution of ecomorphs across different continents. Consequently, many of the characters that delineate the subfamilies are convergent, and in many cases biogeography is a better predictor of relationships than taxonomy. We provide a summary of taxonomic changes to better bring katydid taxonomy in line with their phylogeny.