Despite having enabled insects to become the most abundant and successful group on Earth, wings have been lost in numerous insect lineages, including Orthoptera. Melanoplinae, a subfamily that includes over 100 genera and more than 800 species in Acrididae, exhibits various wing-types and dispersal abilities. Some species possess extensive flight capabilities with long wings, while many groups that inhabit alpine environments tend to reduce their wings and dispersal ability. In order to infer the evolutionary history of Melanoplinae and their wings, we conducted molecular phylogenetic research. We established the phylogeny using seven mitochondrial (Cox1, Cox2, CytB, Nad2, Nad5, 12S and 16S) and two nuclear genes (H3 and Wg) for 139 taxa. By investigating the wing types in Melanoplinae, we estimated the ancestral state of the wings and traced their evolutionary history. Our results present that loss and recovery of wings occurred multiple times within Melanoplinae, showing distinct histories across inner taxa within the subfamily.

• Do-Yoon Kim(School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Comparative Medicine Disease Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea)
• Hojun Song(Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA)
• Seunggwan Shin(School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Comparative Medicine Disease Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea)