›› 2002, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (5): 700-704.

• RESEARCH PAPERS • Previous Articles    

Morphology of female subgenital plates and evolution of some Chinese genera of Acrididae (Orthoptera: Acridoidea)

XU Sheng-Quan, ZHENG Zhe-Min   

  • Online:2002-10-20 Published:2002-10-20

Abstract: The morphology of female subgenital plate in grasshoppers is closely related to both copulation and oviposition. It is widely accepted that subgenital plate morphology is also informative in grasshopper taxonomy. In this paper, ten species belonging to six genera of Acrididae from China were selected, and their female subgenital plates examined after dissection from the body. The data were then used in a cladistic analysis. The results show that the characters of female subgenital plate are homologous and vary among different genera. The phylogeny of these six genera is (Carsula ((Phlaeoba, Gonista), (Phlaeobida (Gelastorhinus, Acrida)))),which is congruous with the cladistic results based on other morphological data, and in agreement with the viewpoint that the Leptacrinae be separated from Acrididae. The results also show the evolutionary directions of all 15 characters of female subgenital plates among the six genera.

Key words: Acrididae, female subgenital plate, morphology, evolution