Systematic Study On The Insects Of Oedipodidae From Eurasia (Orthoptera: Acridoidea)

The family Oedipodidae, belonging to the superfamily Acridoidea, Caelifera, Orthoptera, distributed in all zoogeographical regions. So far, 128 genera and 965 species (subspecies) are described worldwide and 69 genera and 442 species (subspecies) in the Eurasia. They are phytophagous insects and some species are the famous pests to agriculture and grazing. This paper is composed of two parts, in which the systematic study on the field of Eurasia was carried out.The first part includes six chapters. In chapter one, the taxonomic status, taxonomic history, general research situation and the significance of the study on Oedipidids (band-winged grasshoppers) were reviewed. In chapter two, morphology and the main characters of Oedipodids was introduced in detail, and some chromophotographs and illustrations were provided. In chapter three, based on the morphological study, the evolutionary systematic study on Eurasian Oedipodidae has been performed using various types of stridulatory organ and its degenerating and lacking, a new taxonomic system to subfamily was established and the evolutionary relationships of inter-subfamilies were discussed also. According to the theory of evolutionary systematics, the Oedipodidae from Eurasia is divided into 8 subfamilies: Locustinae, Oedipodinae, Heteropterninae, nov., Neosphingonotinae, nov., Bryodeminae, Bryodemellinae, Oedipodacrinae, nov. and Rashidinae, nov., among them including 4 new subfamilies. In chapter four, a cladistic analysis of phylogenic relationships among 8 subfamilies of Eurasian Oedipodidae were performed using 27 characters from external morphology. The results indicate that the Oedipodidae is a monophyletic group, and the evolutionary relationships among subfamilies are consistent with that of the conclusion from evolutionary systematic study. At the same time, the kinships among all species of Bryodemella (s. str.) were analyzed and concluded by performing a cladistic analysis using 34 morphological characters based on the cladistics theory. In chapter five, based on the mitochondrial 16S rDNA partial sequences of total 26species (representative of 26 genera) of Oedipodidae, the homologus sequences were compared and phylogenetic analyses were performed. The results show that the Oedipodidae was a monophyletic group, the content of A+T was distinctly rich (70.1%) in the 16S rDNA sequences, the genus Heteropternis might be an especial group of Oedipodidae and the relative intergeneric relationship of between the Eurasian genera and the Africans was closer than that of between the Eurasian genera and the Americans. The intergeneric relationships of partial Oedipodids also be analyzed and discussed. Furthermore, the first study using conservative 16S rDNA sequences on taxonomic research in lower taxa of genus Bryodemella suggested that the nucleotide sequences of 16S rDNA have provided additional information on taxonomic research in genus Bryodemella as a useful genetic marker. In chapter six, the distributing patterns and the characteristics of faunal components of Oedipodids both in the world and Eurasia have been discussed.The second part, 8 subfamilies and 69 genera with 442 species (subspecies) of Oedipodidae in Eurasia are recorded, the documents, synonyms, distributions of each genus and species are listed, and the Chinese names of both genera and species distributed in China are given. Keys to all genera and partial species are drawn up. During this study, 4 new subfamilies are established and 4 new species are found. Of which, one new species is published on the Entomological News, 116(1): 23-28 in February 2005 and two new species published on the Zootaxa, 973: 1-7 in May 2005.