Abstract: The homologus sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) genes were sequenced in 17 species representing five subfamilies (belonging to family Acrididae): Melanoplinae, Catantopinae, Cyrtacanthacridinae, Oedipodinae and Gomphocerinae from China. The concatenated sequence from both genes was 1 998 bp in length, consisting of 1 266 bp and 732 bp for COI and Cytb respectively. In the concatenated sequence, A+T content was about 72.13%, and C+G only 27.87%. There are 889 sites conserved, 1 109 sites were variable, and 838 sites were parsimony informative in the variable sites. Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed with maximum parsimony, neighbor-joining, and maximum likelihood using Erianthus versicolor and Erianthus sp. of the Eumastacoidea as outgroups. Our results showed that the monophyly of the subfamilies Gomphocerinae and Catantopinae were not supported here. The phylogenetic trees did not entirely agree with the international taxonomic system of grasshoppers. The subfamily Oedipodinae clustered as one clade, which was supported as a monophyletic group. Based on the close relationships among four subfamilies, Gomphocerinae, Catantopinae, Cyrtacanthacridinae and Melanoplinae, we suggest that the four subfamilies should be considered to merge into one subfamily. Simultaneously, we found it was not very dependable to infer the phylogenetic relationships among subfamilies within the Acrididae based on the concatenated sequence from Cytb and COI genes.

Key words: Orthoptera, Acrididae, mitochondrial DNA, Cytb gene, COI gene, phylogeny