Auchenorrhyncha

Cicadas, leafhoppers, etc
Red-banded leafhopper, Graphocephala coccinea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Suborder:	Auchenorrhyncha
Infraorders
Cicadomorpha Fulgoromorpha

The Auchenorrhyncha (former synonym: Cicadinea) is the suborder of the Hemiptera which contains most of the familiar members of what was called the Homoptera - groups such as cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, planthoppers, and spittlebugs. The aphids and scale insects are the other well-known "Homoptera", and they are in the suborder Sternorrhyncha. Lesser-known insects largely regarded as Homoptera are the Coleorrhyncha. However, the taxonomic status of the Hemiptera and Homoptera is currently under investigation and discussion. See Heteroptera and Prosorrhyncha for more information on such points.

Distributed worldwide, all members of this group are plant-feeders, and many are vectors of viral and fungal diseases of plants.

It is also common for Auchenorrhyncha to produce either audible sounds or substrate vibrations as a form of communication. Such calls range from vibrations inaudible to humans, to the calls of many species of cicadas that can be heard for hundreds of metres at least. In season they produce the most characteristic and ubiquitous noise of the bush.

Classification

There has been a fair bit of debate and uncertainty as to whether the Auchenorrhyncha is a monophyletic group or not; some authors, believing it was not, split it into two suborders, the Clypeorrhyncha (= Cicadomorpha) and the Archaeorrhyncha (= Fulgoromorpha). In the last 10 years there has been evidence to support this interpretation, and the most recent research indicates that the Auchenorrhyncha are indeed a paraphyletic lineage.

A classification of the Auchenorrhyncha is as follows:^[1]

• Infraorder Cicadomorpha (Clypeorrhyncha, Clypeata)
  • Superfamily Cercopoidea (spittlebugs, froghoppers)
    • Aphrophoridae
    • Cercopidae
    • Clastopteridae
    • Epipygidae
    • Machaerotidae
  • Superfamily Cicadoidea (cicadas)
    • Cicadidae (Platypediidae, Plautillidae, Tettigadidae, Tibicinidae)
    • Tettigarctidae (hairy cicadas)
  • Superfamily Membracoidea (Cicadelloidea)
    • Aetalionidae (Biturritiidae)
    • Cicadellidae (Eurymelidae, Hylicidae, Ledridae, Ulopidae, leafhoppers)
    • Melizoderidae
    • Membracidae (Nicomiidae, treehoppers)
    • Myerslopiidae (Cicadellidae, in part)
• Infraorder Fulgoromorpha (Archaeorrhyncha, planthoppers)
  • Superfamily Fulgoroidea
    • Acanaloniidae
    • Achilidae
    • Achilixiidae
    • Cixiidae
    • Delphacidae
    • Derbidae
    • Dictyopharidae
    • Eurybrachyidae
    • Flatidae
    • Fulgoridae (lanternflies)
    • Gengidae
    • Hypochthonellidae
    • Issidae
    • Kinnaridae
    • Lophopidae
    • Meenoplidae
    • Nogodinidae
    • Ricaniidae
    • Tettigometridae
    • Tropiduchidae

Notes

1. ^ C. H. Dietrich in Resh, V. H. & Carde, R. T. (Eds.) 2003 Encyclopedia of Insects. Academic Press.

References

• Sorensen J.T., Campbell B.C., Gill R.J., Steffen-Campbell J.D., 1995. Non-monophyly of Auchenorrhyncha ("Homoptera"), based upon 18S rDNA phylogeny: eco-evolutionary and cladistic implications with pre-Heteropteroidea Hemiptera (s.l.) and a proposal for new monophyletic suborders. Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 71 (1): 31-60

External links

• Bibliography of the Auchenorrhyncha of Central Europe
• DrMetcalf: a resource on cicadas, leafhoppers, planthoppers, spittlebugs, and treehoppers
• Photographic Atlas of the Planthoppers and Leafhoppers of Germany
• Photographs of the Auchenorrhyncha of North and South America