View the various SEL web pages associated with Hemiptera

Select from any of the following Hemiptera web sites here or choose from the detailed list below:

 
The Auchenorrhyncha include insects such as treehoppers, leafhoppers, planthoppers, and cicadas.
Leafhoppers
Access the Checklist of Leafhopper Species 1758-1955
Heteroptera are known as the "true bugs".
This web page is under construction
The Sternorrhyncha include insects such as aphids, scales, psyllids, and whiteflies.
The Aleyrodoidea web site concentrates on the insects commonly called the whiteflies.
Search the U.S. National Collection of Aleyrodidae.
The Aphidoidea web site is devoted to that group of insects commonly called aphids or plantlice and their kin.
Search the U.S. National Collection of Aphidoidea.
Search the U.S. National Collection of Aphid Photographs
The Coccoidea web site encompasses insects such as mealybugs, soft scales, and armored scales. 
You can also access ScaleNet, an information resource on scale insects.
Search the U.S.National Collection of Coccoidea.
Search the U.S. National Collection of Scale Insect Photographs
The Psylloidea web site focuses on the group of insects commonly called psyllids or jumping plantlice.
Search the U.S. National Collection of Psylloidea.

 

Hemiptera or Homoptera?

*  The past several years have seen a flurry of discussion on the use of the ordinal names Hemiptera and Homoptera.  Various workers have demonstrated that the Homoptera is not a natural group but is paraphyletic.  Based on morphological and molecular evidence, many authors are using the ordinal name Hemiptera to encompass the true bugs and what were previously known as the "homopterans".  This classification system is used on this web page.  

    The subordinal names within the order have also stimulated discussion and controversy.  While the monophyly of the suborder Sternorrhyncha (i.e. aphids, scale insects, jumping plantlice, and whiteflies) has been largely supported,  some workers have suggested the suborder Auchenorrhyncha lacks systematic validity as a paraphyletic group.  This web site maintains the use of Auchenorrhyncha until further studies suggest stronger evidence for a different classification.  

    The monophyly of the Heteroptera (the true bugs) is relatively well established using both morphological and molecular character systems.  The rank of the group remains controversial but is here treated as a suborder.

Suggested Readings

Carver, M., G.F. Gross and T.E. Woodward.  1991.  Hemiptera.  In:  The Insects of Australia.  CSIRO, Melbourne.

Campbell, B.C., J.D. Steffen-Campbell,  J.T. Sorensen,  and R.J. Gill.  1995.  Paraphyly of Homoptera and Auchenorrhyncha inferred from 18S rDNA sequences.  Systematic Entomology.  20: 175-194.

Hennig, W.  1981.  Insect Phylogeny (translated and edited by A. C. Pont).  John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.

Schaefer, C.W. (ed.)  1996.  Studies on Hemipteran Phylogeny.  Proceedings of Thomas Say Publications in Entomology, Entomological Society of America, Lanham, Maryland.

Schuh, R.T.  Studies on Hemipteran Phylogeny. (book review).  Journal of the New York Entomological Society.  104:231-235.

Sorensen, J.T.,  B.C. Cambell,  R.J. Gill, and J.D. Steffen-Campbell.  1995.  Non-monophyly of Auchenorrhyncha ("Homoptera"), based upon 18S rDNA phylogeny:  Eco-evolutionary and cladistic implications within pre Heteropterodea Hemiptera (s.l.) and a proposal for new monophyletic suborders.  Pan-Pacific Entomologist  71:31-60.  

von Dohlen, C.D. and N.A. Moran.  1995.  Molecular phylogeny of the Homoptera:  a paraphyletic taxon.  Journal of Molecular Evolution 41:  211-223.

 

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Last updated:

02 December, 2004