Abstract
With 175 described genera and 1556 described species, Family Cercopidae is currently divided into two subfamilies: the paraphyletic Cercopinae and the monophyletic Ischnorhininae. This study, with emphasis on the family Cercopidae, is in line with the extensive work of Cryan and Svenson which is the first phylogenetic study testing the monophyly of this family and higher‐level relationships within Cercopoidea. This study includes more representative taxa from Old World regions. The results of the phylogenetic analysis based on DNA nucleotide sequence data (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, histone 3, and cytochrome oxidase I) show that Cercopidae is not monophyletic. Three major lineages are recovered: (1) the lineage Microsargane Fowler, 1897 + Hemitriecphora Lallemand, 1949 which is the sister group to Aphrophoridae + Epipygidae, (2) most of the Old World Cercopidae appear as a monophyletic lineage that can be subdivided into two clades, and (3) the monophyletic New World Ischnorhininae, which is separated from the rest of Cercopidae and basal to the two other lineages. It is proposed that Microsargane and Hemitriecphora should be removed from Cercopidae and placed within Aphrophoridae, and only the monophyletic Old World lineage should be kept as Cercopidae sensu stricto. The two subfamilies Cercopinae and Cosmoscartinae, corresponding respectively to the monophyletic lineage groups 2 and 3, should be kept with minimal changes on the tribal level, and the subfamily Ischnorhininae should be raised to family level Ischnorhinidae stat. nov.