Phylogenomics of endemic Australian Ulopinae (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadellidae). Membracoidea

Ulopinae are a distinctive and compelling leafhopper subfamily widely distributed across the Afrotropical, Paleartic, Indomalayan and Australasian regions. The ulopine fauna of Australia is entirely endemic and includes two tribes of striking appearance, the Ulopini and Cephalelini. This project assesses the monophyly, phylogenetic placement and species-level diversity of the Ulopini genus Austrolopa. Phylogenetic analyses based on sequence data from target nuclear loci (18S, 28S, H2A and H3) and mitochondrial genomes (15 genes) for 23 membracoid taxa yielded congruent results. Our findings provide strong evidence for the monophyly of Austrolopa, Ulopinae, and Ulopini+Cephalelini. These two tribes were recovered as non-monophyletic with respect to each other due to a non-monophyletic Cephalelini arising from a highly polyphyletic Ulopini. Austrolopa was strongly recovered as monophyletic in all analyses, a result also supported by morphological features. The genus now includes six species, three of which are described based on morphological and molecular data: Austrolopa botanica sp. nov., Austrolopa rotunda sp. nov., and Austrolopa sublima sp. nov.