Reconstruction of the phylogeny of grasshoppers from the family acrididae (Orthoptera) based on the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence

The sequences of two mitochondrial 16S RNA gene fragments (137- and 174-bp in size) were determined in nine grasshopper species belonging to three Acr ididae subfamilies. Phylogenetic reconstruction was performed using the seq uences of twelve grasshopper species and the cricket Acheta domesticus sequ ence as an outgroup (some data were purchased from the Genbank Data Library (NCBI)). In the phylogenetic tree, the Acridinae and Locustinae formed com pact groups. An unexpected position of Celes scalozubovi (Locustinae) withi n the subfamily Acridinae indicated its vague phylogeny. The Catantopinae s pecies lied close to the base of the Acridinae. Almost all branches of phyl ogenetic trees were strongly (55 - 100%) supported by bootstrap analysis.