Taxonomy and phylogenetics of the planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoromorpha)

Planthoppers are the infraorder Fulgoromorpha within the suborder Auchenorrhyncha of the Hemiptera. Planthoppers consist of 22 extant plus 16 extinct families.  The Fulgoromorpha probably branched from the Cicadomorpha in the Carboniferous, with the Aviorrhynchidae the earliest family in the fossil record and the only family not in the Eucixioidian lineage. The Eucixioidian lineage consists of 5 (or 6) subfamilies, three of which (Coleoscytoidea, Surijokocixioidea, and Fulgoridioidea) are extinct. Among the extant families two are not treated in any analyses: the southern African Hypochthonellidae and Gengidae. The Tettigometridae are included in most analyses but are inconsistently placed, almost certainly because of ‘long-branch’ analytical issues (although possibly sister to Caliscelidae). The Nogodinidae are polyphyletic in all analyses and usually not represented by the Nogodinini. Among the consistently treated taxa, the Delphacoidea (Delphacidae + Cixiidae s.l., including Borysthenidae) are the earliest derived, followed by the ‘Meenoploidea’ (Meenoplidae + Kinnaridae). The basal lineages in the Fulgoroidea are the (Achilixiidae+ (Derbidae+Achilidae)). The Fulgoridae+Dictyopharidae subtend the most derived 8 families, comprised of the basal Tropiduchidae with remaining taxa often arranged in two clades: ((Eurybrachidae+ Lophopidae) + Caliscelidae) + (Ricaniidae+ (Issidae+ (Acanaloniidae+ Flatidae))). Overall, the resolution of the phylogeny of the planthoppers appears to be within sight, although current analyses still suffer to various degrees from the usual issues of data sufficiency, taxon sampling, uncertain taxonomic composition of some families, and potential analytical artifacts.