Complete mitochondrial genomes of two Evacanthini species (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Evacanthinae) with phylogenetic implications.

Abstract

The leafhopper tribe Evacanthini, a core lineage within the morphologically diverse subfamily Evacanthinae, provides key insight into the classification, evolutionary history, and molecular evolution of this group. We sequenced and annotated the complete mitochondrial genomes of Taperus fasciatus Li & Wang, 1994 and Onukia sp. and reconstructed phylogenetic relationships using a concatenated dataset comprising 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) and two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs) with maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. The dataset included 38 Evacanthini species and two outgroups from Nirvanini, clarifying the phylogenetic positions of each species and enriching genomic resources for the tribe. Meanwhile, to further test the genus Onukia Matsumura, 1912 for non-monophyly as suggested by Wang et al. (2017), we constructed an additional ML tree based on partial cox1 sequences from 36 species. The results confirmed that Onukia is non-monophyletic, with its species scattered across multiple branches rather than forming a single cohesive clade. These findings support the monophyly of Evacanthini while revealing complex evolutionary relationships within Onukia, providing robust molecular evidence for future studies on systematics, taxonomy, and evolution of this agriculturally significant group.