Cicadomorpha[1] is an infraorder of the insect orderHemiptera which contains the cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, and spittlebugs. There are approximately 35,000 described species worldwide. Distributed worldwide, all members of this group are plant-feeders, and many produce either audible sounds or substrate vibrations as a form of communication. The earliest fossils of cicadomorphs first appear during the Late Permian.
Some authors use the name Clypeorrhyncha (from the Latinclypeus and the Greekῥύγχοςrhúnkhos, 'shielded nose') as a replacement for the extant Cicadomorpha.[2] Nymphs of many Cicadomorphans coat themselves with secretions from specialized Malphigian tubules. They are never coated with hydrophobic wax as seen in the nymphs of Fulgoromorpha. Most Cicadomorphas have a filter chamber in their mid-gut which helps remove excess water from the xylem or phloem sap that they feed on.[3]
Of the three extant superfamilies within the Cicadomorpha, molecular phylogeny studies have placed Membracoidea as a sister group to a clade containing Cicadoidea and Cercopoidea. Within these superfamilies, not all deep phylogeny questions have been resolved.[4]
^Evans JW (1946) A natural classification of leaf-hoppers (Jassoidea, Homoptera). Part 1. External morphology and systematic position. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London96 (3): 47–60.
^Sorensen, J. T.; Campbell, B. C.; Gill, R. J.; Steffen-Campbell, J. D. (1995). "Non-monophyly of Auchenorrhyncha ("Homoptera"), based upon 18S rDNA phylogeny: eco-evolutionary and cladistic implications within pre-Heteropterodea Hemiptera (S. L.) and a proposal for new monophyletic suborders". The Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 71 (1): 31–60.
^C. H. Dietrich in Resh, V. H. & Carde, R. T. (Eds.) 2003 Encyclopedia of Insects. Academic Press.
^Cryan, Jason R. (2005). "Molecular phylogeny of Cicadomorpha (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadoidea, Cercopoidea and Membracoidea): adding evidence to the controversy". Systematic Entomology. 30 (4): 563–574. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2004.00285.x.
