title: A preliminary phylogeny of the South African Lentulidae.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The grasshopper family Lentulidae is endemic to eastern and southern Africa, with its center of diversity situated in South Africa, the highest diversity being found in the Cape Floristic Region, which is one of the global biodiversity hotspots. The family consists of 35 genera sorted in two subfamilies. This study provides first insights into the phylogeny of Lentulidae. Two mitochondrial genes (12S and NDS) were sequenced and the phylogeny was inferred through Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results indicate that the current classification into the subfamilies Lentulinae and Shelforditinae may be incorrect asUvarovidium, Leatettix(Shelforditinae) andDevylderia(Lentulinae) clustered together in one main clade, whileBetiscoides, BasutacrisandGymnidium(all Lentulinae) formed the second main clade. The generaUvarovidiumandLeatettix, which had been assigned to the Acrididae (subfamily Hemiacridinae) in the past, grouped within the Lentulidae, confirming their current assignment to this family. The East AfricanUsambillagroup is likely to represent a sister clade to the south AfricanLentulaandEremidium. Diversification patterns in the genusDevylderiaandBetiscoidessuggest a higher number of species than currently known.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our phylogeny is not in line with the current systematics of Lentulidae, suggesting that a broader sampling and a study of the genitalia would be useful to clarify the taxonomy. Furthermore, some genera (particularlyBetiscoidesandDevylderia) are in need of taxonomic revision, as the number of species within these genera is likely to be higher than the current taxonomy suggests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biogeography, Trier University, D-54286 Trier, Germany.|State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Department of Entomology, D-70191 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Matenaar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biogeography, Trier University, D-54286 Trier, Germany.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bröder
authors.affiliation: Department of Biogeography, Trier University, D-54286 Trier, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hochkirch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D009987:Orthoptera / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013019:South Africa
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Biodiversity hotspot; Cape Floristic Region; Invertebrates; Orthoptera; Taxonomy