Phylogeny and biogeography of the sharpshooters (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae)

Abstract Sharpshooters (Cicadellinae), a large subfamily of the Cicadellidae, exhibit a global distribution and a broad array of ecological preferences. To explore the phylogenetic relationships and roles of global historical, biotic and biogeographic processes in the diversification of sharpshooters, we analysed DNA sequence data from three mitochondrial and two nuclear genes for 243 taxa representing all Cicadellinae tribes, generic groups, regional faunas and data of geographic distributions of sharpshooter species compiled from online databases and available literature. The maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) analyses strongly support the monophyletic clade including Cicadellinae and Phereurininae. Divergence time estimates and biogeographic analyses suggest that sharpshooters originated in the Neotropical region or were more widespread in Gondwana during the Early Cretaceous and diversified through a combination of ancient vicariance and dispersal following the evolution of angiosperm‐dominated habitats. The earliest divergence during the Cretaceous gave rise to Oriental and New World lineages, the latter of which subsequently dispersed into the Old World and gave rise to the diverse endemic fauna of Madagascar. The Oriental lineage shows high diversity and endemism in tropical Asia and the Pacific, with striking distributional discontinuities in Wallacea. These results suggest that a combination of environmental and evolutionary factors including continental‐scale vicariance, long‐distance dispersal and diversification of terrestrial microhabitats and host plants may explain the diversity of the modern sharpshooter fauna.