A taxonomic review of the North American band-winged grasshopper genus, Encoptolophus (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Oedipodinae)

 

Band-winged grasshoppers (Oedipodinae) are a subfamily of short-horned grasshoppers found in temperate regions throughout the world that are in need of systematic research.  Classification at the tribal level within Oedipodinae remains largely unresolved due to difficulty in determining valuable species-fixed characters.  This research follows a phylogenetic analysis by Edelman et. al. 2010 which determined the correct placement of the genus Shotwellia as sister group to the Chortophaga genus group by analyzing mtDNA evidence and morphology.  An unforeseen consequence of that project was the hypothesized paraphyly of the largest genus in the tribe, Encoptolophus.  The purpose of this investigation is to accurately represent the phylogeny of Encoptolophus within the Chortophaga genus group by including more members of the genus in the study group.  Data collection involved examining morphological characters historically used to delineate species of band-winged grasshoppers along with sequencing molecular data from twenty-four of the twenty-five studied taxa.  The three mitochondrial genes sequenced were cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COII), 16S ribosomal RNA (16S), and 12S ribosomal RNA (12S).  Lastly, both morphological and molecular data were combined in order to perform a modern cladistic analysis on the group, one of only a handful ever performed on North American Oedipodinae.  The combined tree generated from this data further supports the current paraphyly of Encoptolophus.  While the evidence strongly shows a need for erecting a second, new genus name for some members of Encoptolophus, we are still in the process of acquiring further data to understand exactly which species are further derived.