Taxonomic revision of the genus Conophymacris Willemse, 1933 (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) based on morphology and mitochondrial genomes
The genus Conophymacris belongs to Acridoidea, Dericorythidae, and Conophyminae. It is an endemic brachypterous grasshopper genus in China, with 11 described species primarily distributed in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces. Despite previous taxonomic and phylogenetic studies on Conophymacris, there remain many doubts about this genus at various taxonomic levels. In this study, based on 56 newly sequenced mitochondrial genome sequences from 13 species, combined with mitochondrial genome data of 29 species retrieved from NCBI, phylogenetic relationships between Conophymacris and related genera were reconstructed. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using the Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian Inference (BI) methods, based on two mitochondrial datasets: 13 protein-coding genes (13PCGs) and the combined dataset of 13PCGs + 22tRNA + 2rRNA. Integrating molecular phylogenetic, morphological, biogeographical and genetic distance evidence, the following conclusions are drawn: The genus Conophymacris should be removed from Dericorythidae and placed in Acrididae. Five new synonyms are proposed: Xiangelilacris Zheng, Huang & Zhou, 2008, syn. nov. = Conophymacris Willemse, 1933; Xiangelilacris zhongdianensis Zheng, Huang & Zhou, 2008, syn. nov. = Conophymacris xianggelilaensis Zheng, Niu & Shi, 2009, syn. nov. = Conophymacris nigrofemora Liang & Lin, 1993; Conophymacris reni Ye, Shen, Jia & Yin, 2021, syn. nov. = Conophymacris cangshanensis Zheng & Mao, 1996; Conophymacris yunnanensis Zheng, 1977 syn. nov. = Conophymacris chinensis Willemse, 1933.