Controversy in the Phylogeny of Treehoppers and Leafhoppers
The phylogenetic classifications of leafhoppers and treehoppers are largely debated because the taxonomy of insects is still in developmental stages.
Class
Leafhoppers and treehoppers can be classified Hexapoda, a class which includes all primitively wingless insects, or as Insecta, which includes most species of insects but is not as all- encompassing as the class Hexapoda.
Order
It was long believed that leafhoppers and treehoppers were members of the Homoptera order, but recent developments in the classification have shown that the order Homoptera is paraphyletic to the order Heteroptera. Because paraphyletic groups are no longer recognized by the majority of taxonomists, Homoptera and Heteroptera have been combined into a single order Hemiptera.
Family
Leafhoppers and Treehoppers belong to the superfamily Membracoidea, which has four families. Three of the families (Membracidae, Aetalionidae, and Melizoderidae) constitute treehoppers, while leafhoppers belong to the fourth, Cicadellidae.
Species
There are over 3200 species of treehoppers and more species of leafhoppers than all species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians combined.
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