Genetic studies of Orthoptera and Hemiptera insects

The current studies of the relationship between insects are carried out using modern methods of integrative taxonomy which is based on combining and comparing morphological, bioacoustic, genetic, and ecological data (Figs 1-6).

One of the interesting groups of insects is Orthoptera which is characterized by adaptations to extremely dry environments, very extensive vocalization, and genomic gigantism with numerous non-functional copies of genes. Orthoptera systematics has yet to be unified and the widely recognized relationships had often been established only on the basis of morphological features are questionable and so far not clearly explained. The object of genetic studies are katydids from the superfamily Tettigonioidea (Fig. 1) with special reference to species belonging to several subfamilies from Palearctic and East Africa and grasshopper Podisma sapporensis (Acridoidea) from Hokkaido (Japan) The results of these studies are elucidating the systematics of the analyzed insects and describing new species and genera.

Cytogenetic studies of hemipterans (Hemiptera) concern the superfamily Psylloidea (Sternorrhyncha) and selected families of Auchenorrhyncha. The main aim of these studies is to explain the mechanisms leading to karyotype differentiation within and among the studied taxa. Chromosomal variation reflects directions of genome evolution and is suitable for the taxonomic classification of these groups of insects (Fig. 5). Cytogenetic and genetic studies of Philaenus have explained the phylogenetic relationship among species belonging to this genus (Fig. 6). Detailed studies of the Palaearctic species Philaenus spumarius have shown its high genetic differentiation.

Physical maps of chromosomes are created using suitable markers (Figs 2a-c; 3c,d; 4d) to show rearrangements of chromosomes and the evolution of genomes in particular taxa. The results are suitable for (1) an explanation of phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships between particular taxa (Fig. 3a,b); (2) the verification of taxonomic ranks on species and higher taxonomic levels; and (3) a description of new species (Fig. 3a-d). Genetic data analyzed along with morphological, bioacoustic, biogeographic, and ecological information provides us with a better understanding of the taxonomic position and phylogenetic relationship of studied groups of orthopterans (e.g. katydids from Palaearctic and eastern Africa [Fig. 4]) and hemipterans. These studies have been undertaken in collaboration with researchers from Bulgaria, Japan, Germany, Spain, and Russia.

Research was funded by the ISEA PAS and grants:

National Science Centre; no 2011/01/B/NZ8/1467; "Phylogeny of the Palaearctic Tettigoniinae (Insecta: Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) inferred by molecular, chromosomal, morphological and bioacoustic traits" (PI: dr Beata Grzywacz, investigator from ISEA PAS prof. dr sc. Elżbieta Warchałowska-Śliwa); 2011-2015.

Ministry of Higher Education and Science; no 6117/B/P01/2010/38 and National Science Centre no. NN303611738 "Phylogenetic realtionships in the tribe Barbitistini (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Phaneropterinae) based on genetic studies" (PI: prof. dr sc. Elżbieta Warchałowska-Śliwa, investigators from ISEA PAS dr Beata Grzywacz and Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, BAS, Bulgaria, dr Dragan Chobanov); 2010-2013.

Ministry of Higher Education and Science; no N N305 579839; "Phylogeography of spittlebug Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Aphrophoridae)" (PI: prof. dr sc. Anna Maryańska-Nadachowska, investigator from ISEA PAS dr Łukasz Kajtoch); 2010-2012.

Selected publications:

Kociński M., Chobanov D., Grzywacz B. 2022. New insights into the genetic diversity of the Balkan bush-crickets of the Poecilimon ornatus group (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 80: 243-259.

Heller K.-G., Chobanov D., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Hemp C. 2022. Review of song patterns and song production in armoured ground crisckets (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Hetrodini) with karyological data and taxonomic notes. Zootaxa 5120(4): 451-481.

Ingrisch S., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Liu C. 2021. On the biology of the high-altitude katydid Anormalous zhangi Liu, 2011 (Insecta: Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Phaneropterinae) from Yunnan: Development, Behaviour, Stridulation, Chromosomes, Systematics: 205-215. In book: HARTMANN, M.; M. V. L. BARCLAY & J. WEIPERT (eds): Biodiversität und Naturausstattung im Himalaya VII; 205-215 pp. Publisher: Verein der Freunde & Förderer des Naturkundemuseums Erfurt e.V., Erfurt: 594 S.

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Kociński M., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Heller K.-G., Hemp C. 2021. Highly divergent karyotypes and barcoding of the East African genus Gonatoxia Karsch (Orthoptera: Phaneroipterinae). Scientific Reports 11: 22781.

Heller K.-G., Baker E., Ingrisch S., Korsunovskaya O., Liu C-H, Riede K., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2021. Bioacoustics and systematics of Mecopoda (and related forms) from South East Asia and adjacent areas (Orthoptera, Tettigonioidea, Mecopodinae) including some chromosome data. Zootaxa 5005 (2): 101-114.

Grzywacz B., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Kociński M., Heller K.-G., Hemp C. 2021. Diversification of the Balloon bushcrickets (Orthoptera, Hexacentrinae, Aerotegmina) in the East African mountains. Scientific Reports 11: 9878.

Cole J.A., Weissman D.B., Lightfoot D.C., Ueshima N., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Chatfield-Taylor W. 2021. A revision of the shield-back katydid genus Neduba (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Tettigonninae: Nedubini). Zootaxa Monograph 4910 (1): 001-092.

Kociński M., Grzywacz B., Hristov G., Chobanov D. 2021. A taxonomic outline of the Poecilimon affinis complex (Orthoptera) using the geometric morphometric approach. PeerJ 9:e12668.

Kociński M. 2020. The relationships within the Poecilimon ornatus group (Orthoptera: Phaneropterinae) based on the cytochrome c oxidase I gene. Folia Biologica (Kraków) 68: 7-13.

Heller K.-G., Volleth M., Vedenin V., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2020. A perfect duet? The acoustic behaviour of Anaulacomera almadaenis sp. nov., a species with an unusual chromosome complement, discovered in the footsteps of the explorers Spix and Martius in Brazil. Spixiana 43(1): 105-118.

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B, Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Heller K.G., Hemp C. 2020. Rapid chromosomal evolution in the bush-cricket Gonatoxia helleri Hemp, 2016 (Orthoptera, Phaneropterinae). Comparative Cytogenetics 14(3): 417-435.

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Rhee H., Heller K.-G., Grzywacz B. 2020. Tribal affiliation of endemic Macaronesian bush-crickets similar to Tettigonia (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae): inference from chromosomes and taxonomy. European Journal of Entomology 117: 157-163.

Grzywacz B., Tatsuta H., Bugrov A.G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2019. Cytogenetic markers reveal a reinforcement of variation in the tension zone between chromosome races in the brachypterous grasshopper Podisma sapporensis Shir. On Hokkaido Island. Scientific Reports 9: 16860.

Kociński M., Grzywacz B., Chobanov D., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2018. New insights into the karyotype evolution of the genus Gampsocleis (Orthoptera, Tettigoniinae, Gampsocleidini). Comparative Cytogenetics 12(4): 529-538.

Grzywacz B., Lehmann A.W., Chobanov D.P., Lehmann G.U.C. 2018. Multiple origin of flightlessness in Phaneropterinae bushcrickets and redefinition of the tribus Odonturini (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea: Phaneropteridae). Organisms Diversity & Evolution 18: 327-339.

Heller K.-G., Hemp C., Massa B., Kociński M., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2018. Paraplangia sinespeculo, a new genus and species of bush-cricket, with notes on its biology and a key to the genera of Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea) from Madagascar. Journal of Orthoptera Sociaty Research 27(2): 143-153.

Massa B., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Moulin N. 2018. The tropical African genus Morgenia (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) and its spur in the mid tibia. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 65(2): 161-175.

Grzywacz B., Tatsuta H., Shikata K., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2018. A comparative chromosome mapping study in Japanese Podismini Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Melanoplinae). Cytogenetic and Genome Research 154: 37-44.

Hemp C., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Hemp A. 2018. New genera and new species of Acrometopini (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea Phaneropterinae) from East Africa and a review of all known stridulatory organs, songs and karyotypes of the tribe. Insect Systematics and Evolution 49: 241-298.

Hemp C., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B. 2018. A molecular phylogeny of East African Amytta (Orthopteraa: Tettigoniidae, Meconematinae) with data on their cytogenetics. Systematic Entomology 43(2): 239-249.

Grzywacz B., Tatsuta H. 2017. Phylogenetic relationship of Japanese Podismini species (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Melanoplinae) inferred from a partial sequence of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene. Journal of Orthoptera Research 26: 11-19.

Heller K.-G., Ingrisch S., Liu Ch-X., Shi F-M, Hemp C., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Rentz D.C.F. 2017. Complex songs and criptic ethospecies: the case of the Ducetia japonica group (Orthoptera: Tettigonioidea: Phaneropteridae: Phaneropterinae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Sociaty 181(2): 286-307.

Grzywacz B., Heller K.-G., Chobanov D.P., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2017. Conventional and molecular chromosome study in the European genus Parnassiana Zeuner, 1941 (Orthoptera, Tettigoniinae, Platycleidini). Folia Biologica (Kraków) 65(1): 1-8.

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Heller K.-G., Chobanov D.P. 2017. Comparative analysis of chromosomes in the Palaearctic bush-crickets of tribe Pholidopterini (Orthoptera, Tettigoniinae). Comparative Cytogenetics 11(2): 309-324.

Grzywacz B., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Karamysheva T.V., Chobanov D.P. 2017. Evolution and systematics of Green Bush-crickets (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Tettigonia) in the Western Palaearctic: testing concordance between molecular, acustic, and morphological data. Organisms Diversity and Evolution 17: 213-228.

Hemp C., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Hemp A. 2017. Review of the African species of the phaneropterine genus Parapyrrhicia Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1891 (Insecta : Orthoptera); secret communication of a forest-bound taxon. Organisms Diversity and Evolution 17: 231-250.

Chobanov D.P., Haya S., Grzywacz B., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Çıplak B. 2017. The Anatolio-Balkan phylogeographic fault: a snapshot from the genus Isophya (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae). Zoologica Scripta 46: 165-179.

Hemp C., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Hemp A. 2016. Spotted males, uniform females and the lowest chromosome number in Tettigoniida recorded: review of the genus Gonatoxia Karsch (Orthoptera, Phaneropterinae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 63(2): 271-286.

Hemp C., Grzywacz B., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Hemp A. 2016. Topography and climatic fluctuations boosting speciation: biogeography and a molecular phylogeny of the East African genera Afroanthracites Hemp & Ingrisch and Afroagraecia Ingrisch & Hemp (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Conocephalinae, Agraeciini). Organisms Diversity and Evolution 16 (1): 211-223.

Grzywacz B., Hemp C., Heller K.-G., Hemp A., Chobanov D.P., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2015. Cytogenetics and molecular differentiation in the African armoured ground bushcrickets (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Hetrodinae). Zoologischer Anzeiger 259: 22-30.

Hemp C., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Hemp A. 2015. Review of the Plangia graminea (Serville) complex and the description of new Plangia species from East Africa (Orthoptera: Phaneropteridae, Phaneropterinae) with data on habitat, bioacoustics, and chromosomes. Organisms Diversity and Evolution 15: 471-488.

Hemp C., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Hemp A. 2015. A new species of Philoscirtus (Orthoptera: Phaneropterinae: Mecopodinae) from the West Usambara Montains of Tanzania and its conservation status. Zootaxa 3905(2): 273-282.

Hemp C., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Hemp A. 2015. Ecology, acustic and chromosomes of the East African genus Afroanthracites Hemp & Ingrisch (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Conocephalinae, Agraeciini) with the description of new species. Organisms Diversity and Evolution 15 (2): 351-368.

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Maryańska-Nadachowska A. Hemp, C. Hemp. A. 2015. Different steps in the evolution of neo-sex chromosomes in two East African Spalacomimus species (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Hetrodinae). European Journal of Entomology 112 (1): 1-10.

Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Sanaie E., Kajtoch Ł. 2015. High genetic diversity in Southwest Asian populations of Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha). Zoology of the Middle East 61 (3): 264-272.

Lis A., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Kajtoch Ł. 2015. Relations of Wolbachia infection with phylogeography of Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera: Aphrophoridae) populations within and beyond the Carpathian contact zone. Microbial Ecology 70: 509-521.

Grzywacz B., Chobanov D.P., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Karamysheva T.V., Heller K.-G., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2014. A comparative study of genome organization and inferences for the systematics of two large bushcricket genera of the tribe Barbitistini (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae). BMC Evolutionary Biology 14: 48.

Grzywacz B., Heller K.-G., Lehmann A.W., Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Lehmann G.U.C. 2014. Chromosomal diversification in the flightless western mediterranen bushcricket genus Odontura (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae) inferred from molecular data. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 52: 109-118.

Lis A., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Lachowska-Cierlik D., Kajtoch Ł. 2014. The Secondary Contact Zone of Phylogenetic Lineages of the Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera: Aphrophoridae): An Example of Incomplete Allopatric Speciation. Journal of Insect Science 14(219) DOI: 10.1093/jisesa/ieu089

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Karamysheva T., Heller K.-G., Lehmann A.W., Lehmann G.U.C., Chobanov D.P. 2013. Molecular and classical chromosomal techniques reveal diversity in bushcricket genera of Barbitistini (Orthoptera). Genome 56: 667-676.

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Grzywacz B., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Karamysheva T., Chobanov D. P., Heller K.-G. 2013. Cytogenetic variability among Bradyporinae species (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). European Journal of Entomology 110: 1-12.

Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Kuznetsova V. G., Karamysheva T.V. 2013. Chromosomal location of rDNA and TTAGG telomeric repeats in eight species of the spittlebug genus Philaenus (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha:Aphrophoridae). European Journal of Entomology 110: 411-418.

Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Kajtoch Ł. Lachowska D. 2012. Genetic diversity of Philaenus spumarius and P. tesselatus (Hemiptera, Aphrophoridae): taxonomic implications for evaluation and taxonomy. Systematic Entomology 37: 55-64.

Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Kuznetsova V. G., Lachowska D., Drosopoulos S. 2012. Mediterranean species of the spittlebug genus Philaenus: modes of chromosome evolution. Journal of Insect Science 12, 54.

Grzywacz B., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Chobanov D. P., Karamysheva T., Warchałowska-Śliwa E. 2011. Comparative analysis of the location of rDNA in the Palaearctic bushcricket genus Isophya (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae). European Journal of Entomology 108: 509-517.

Warchałowska-Śliwa E., Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Grzywacz B., Karamysheva T., Lehmann A.W., Lehmann G.U.C., Heller K.-G. 2011. Changes in the numbers of chromosomes and sex determination system in bushcrickets of the genus Odontura (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Phaneropterinae). European Journal of Entomology 108: 183-195.

Maryańska-Nadachowska A., Drosopoulos S., Lachowska D., Kajtoch Ł., Kuznetsova V. G. 2010. Molecular phylogeny of the Mediterranean species of Philaenus (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Aphrophoridae) using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Systematic Entomology 35 (2): 318-328.