On the origin of New World Pyrgomorphidae

Only 32 (in 13 genera) out of the 477 species of Pyrgomorphidae are found in the New World, while the majority of tribes, genera and species are distributed only in Africa, Asia and Australia (382 spp.). Currently, there are two hypotheses about the origin of New World Pyrgomorphidae: 1. The family colonized the Americas (through North America) at least two or three times from Southeast Asia. 2. Pyrgomorphidae together with Pamphagidae, Tristiridae and Lentulidae originated in Asia then dispersed to Africa and then in minor degree to South America. However both hypotheses have never been tested in a phylogenetical framework. Using next generation sequencing we generated 22 complete mitochondrial genomes plus three nuclear genes (18S, 28S and H3) from 10 out of 13 genera from the New World and 12 genera from Africa, Asia and Australia, as well as three additional pyrgomorph  mtgenomes from the Genbank. As outgroups we included genera of the families Pamphagidae, Tristiridae and Lentulidae. We reconstructed a robust phylogeny that allowed us to answer the following questions:  a) Does New World Pyrgomorphidae form a monophyletic group? b) Did they come from different places/times?