Hopping towards a robust hypothesis: Phylogeny of Caelifera based on entire mitochondrial genomes

Caelifera includes familiar insects such as grasshoppers, pygmy grasshoppers and pygmy mole crickets. Despite previous attempts to address caeliferan phylogeny, most relationships within this group are poorly known. Mitochondrial genome (mtgenome) data have proven effective in resolving deep evolutionary relationships over broad time scales in other insect groups, but they have yet to be widely applied to Caelifera. We present results from a phylogenetic analysis of 32 complete mtgenomes, including 13 unpublished genomes, representing all 8 caeliferan superfamilies and 20 families. Using these data, we specifically test for the monophyly of the superfamilies, assess which lineages are basal within Caelifera, and elucidate interesting patterns of tRNA inversions. Based on these analyses, we reconstruct a new phylogenetic hypothesis for Caelifera and resolve relationships among the superfamilies Tridactyloidea, Acridoidea, Eumastacoidea, Pneumoroidea, Pyrgormorphoidea, and Trigonopterygoidea.