Whole mitogenomes are a useful data source for a wide variety of research goals due to the vastly cheaper sequencing cost and the far less demanding high-quality templates. The mitogenome has demonstrated great potential in resolving phylogenetic questions in Orthoptera at different taxonomic scales as well as exploring patterns of molecular and morphological character evolutions. In this study, the complete mitogenome of Alulacrisshilinensis (Zheng, 1977) was sequenced using next-generation sequencing, the characteristics of the mitogenome are presented briefly, and the phylogeny of the Melanoplinae and Catantopinae was reconstructed using a selected dataset of mitogenome sequences under maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference frameworks. The results show that the genus was consistently assigned to the subfamily Melanoplinae rather than Catantopinae in all phylogenetic trees deduced from different datasets under different frameworks, and this finding is entirely consistent with its morphological characters. Therefore, it is more appropriate to place the genus Alulacris in Melanoplinae rather than in Catantopinae.

Clarifying phylogenetic position and reconstructing robust phylogeny of groups using various evidences are an eternal theme for taxonomy and systematics. In this study, the complete mitogenomes of Longzhouacris mirabilis, Ranacris albicornis, and Conophyma zhaosuensis were sequenced using next-generation sequencing (NGS), and the characteristics of the mitogenomes are presented briefly. The mitogenomes of the three species are all circular molecules with total lengths of 16,164 bp, 15,720 bp, and 16,190 bp, respectively. The gene structures and orders, as well as the characteristics of the mitogenomes, are similar to those of other published mitogenomes in Caelifera. The phylogeny of the main subfamilies of Acrididae with prosternal process was reconstructed using a selected dataset of mitogenome sequences under maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) frameworks. The results showed that the genus Emeiacris consistently fell into the subfamily Melanoplinae rather than Oxyinae, and the genus Choroedocus had the closest relationship with Shirackiacris of the subfamily Eyprepocnemidinae in both phylogenetic trees deduced from mitogenome protein coding genes (PCGs). This finding is entirely consistent with the morphological characters, which indicate that Emeiacris belongs to Melanoplinae and Choroedocus belongs to Eyprepocnemidinae. In addition, the genera Conophymacris and Xiangelilacris, as well as Ranacris and Menglacris, are two pairs of the closest relatives, but their phylogenetic positions need further study to clarify.

Tonkinacrisis a small group in Acrididae. While a few species were occasionally sampled in some previous molecular studies, there is no revisionary research devoted to the genus. In this study, we explored the phylogeny of and the relationships among Chinese species of the genusTonkinacrisusing the mitochondrialCOIbarcode and the complete sequences ofITS1andITS2of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. The phylogeny was reconstructed in maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference frameworks, respectively. The overlap range between intraspecific variation and interspecific divergence was assessed via K2P distances. Species boundaries were delimitated using phylogenetic species concept, NJ tree, K2P distance, the statistical parsimony network as well as the GMYC model. The results demonstrate that the ChineseTonkinacrisspecies is a monophyletic group and the phylogenetic relationship among them is (T.sinensis, (T.meridionalis, (T.decoratus,T.damingshanus))). WhileT.sinensis,T.meridionalisandT.decoratuswere confirmed being good independent species strongly supported by both morphological and molecular evidences, the validity ofT.damingshanuswas not perfectly supported by molecular evidence in this study.

Based on the examination of types and additional materials, the morphology of Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925 and Flatovertex species were reviewed. As a result of our study, the genus Flatovertex Zheng, 1981 was synonymized with the genus Pternoscirta Saussure, 1884, the species Flatovertex cyaneitibialis Zhang & Han, 2010 was synonymized with Pternoscirta caliginosa (Haan, 1842), Flatovertex rufotibialis Zheng, 1981 with Pternoscirta pulchripes Uvarov, 1925, and Flatovertex nigritibialis Zheng & Zhang, 2006 with Mioscirtus wagneri wagneri (Eversmann, 1859), respectively. Mioscirtus varentzowi Zubowsky, 1896 was considered as a junior synonym of Mioscirtus wagneri wagneri (Eversmann, 1849) but not that of Mioscirtus wagneri rogenhoferi (Saussure, 1888).

The genus Alulacris Zheng, 1981 is revised based on examination of type and non-type material of all known Alulacris species. As a result, two new junior synonyms are proposed: A. yanshanensis Mao et al., 2011, syn. nov. is synonymized with A. shilinensis (Zheng, 1977) and A. nigristriatisZheng et al., 2013, syn. nov. is synonymized with Tonkinacris sinensis Chang, 1937. The morphology of A. shilinensis and T. sinensis are redescribed and illustrated. The reliability of quantitative traits for defining new species and the importance of the accurate generic assignment in determining new species are briefly discussed.

Phylogenetic positions of the genus Longgenacris and one of its members, i.e. L. rufiantennus are controversial. The species boundaries within both of L. rufiantennus+Fruhstorferiola tonkinensis and F. viridifemorata species groups are unclear. In this study, we explored the phylogenetic positions of the genus Longgenacris and the species L. rufiantennus and the relationships among F. viridifemorata group based on the 658-base fragment of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcode and the complete sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. The phylogenies were reconstructed in maximum likelihood framework using IQ-TREE. K2P distances were used to assess the overlap range between intraspecific variation and interspecific divergence. Phylogenetic species concept and NJ tree, K2P distance, the statistical parsimony network as well as the generalized mixed Yule coalescent model (GMYC) were employed to delimitate the species boundaries in L. rufiantennus+F. tonkinensis and F. viridifemorata species groups. The results demonstrated that the genus Longgenacris should be placed in the subfamily Melanoplinae but not Catantopinae, and L. rufiantennus should be a member of the genus Fruhstorferiola but not Longgenacris. Species boundary delimitation confirmed the presence of oversplitting in L. rufiantennus+F. tonkinensis and F. viridifemorata species groups and suggested that each group should be treated as a single species.