Molecular and morphological musings on the Machaerotidae (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea)

The spittlebug family Machaerotidae (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea) currently comprises 110 described species classified into two subfamilies, four tribes, and 27 genera. The monophyly of this family is supported by the synapomorphic feature that the nymphs construct fluid-filled, calciferous tubes in which they live and feed; Machaerotidae is further unique among spittlebugs in that members of this family occur only in the Paleotropics. There has been very little systematic research on the family, with Maa's 1963 “A Review of the Machaerotidae” being the most comprehensive study published to date. Included in his Review, Maa proposed a generic-level phylogeny for Machaerotidae based on his interpretation of various morphological characters; however, that hypothesis was not tested by quantitative analysis. The present study reports the results of the first quantitative phylogenetic analysis focusing on Machaerotidae, including exemplars of 14 of 27 genera representing 3 of the 4 described subfamilies. The data set includes DNA sequences from 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, Histone 3, Wingless, Cytochrome Oxidase I-II, and NADH Dehydrogenase 4 analyzed in combination with a morphological data set generated from Maa's (1963) list of putatively informative characters. These data sets were analyzed under Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood, and Bayesian criteria, and divergence dates for resulting nodes generated by BEAST analysis.