Figure 1:

Li, X.-D., Jiang, G.-F., Yan, L.-Y., Li, R., Mu, Y., & Deng, W.-A. (2018, November 19). Positive selection drove the adaptation of mitochondrial genes to the demands of flight and high-altitude environments in Grasshoppers. Frontiers. Retrieved April 2, 2023, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00605/full

Figure 2:

Li, X.-D., Jiang, G.-F., Yan, L.-Y., Li, R., Mu, Y., & Deng, W.-A. (2018, November 19). Positive selection drove the adaptation of mitochondrial genes to the demands of flight and high-altitude environments in Grasshoppers. Frontiers. Retrieved April 2, 2023, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00605/full

The Acrida Cinerae as stated in my first blog post belongs to the taxonomic group Orthoptera. In this group it consists of grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts. Now in my opinion all of the members of the group look the same to me. I couldn’t tell you a locust from a cricket if I tried. However, the phylogenetic trees I have provided as a help to guide you through this blog post. Let’s begin with our figure 1. If you take a look at it, we can see that there are lots of members of this taxonomic group, and if we look even closer we see the relationship between these animals are not based on physical characteristics, but they are based on certain mitochondrial genes that each one of them carries. My species, Acrida Cinerea carries the Cox3 gene based on the branch color and the attachment branch. A feature that I seem to see in almost all members of my genus is the antennas. Almost all of the insects in my genus have antennas on the top of their head, whether they are long or short. A feature that sets my species apart from most is the fact that it does not contain stridulatory organs. I have mentioned this before in previous blog posts, however I took a big interest in this particular feature because learning that without stridulatory organs these animals do not make noises whatsoever when they move, like you would hear with regular grasshoppers. Referring to figure 2, the phylogeny tree was made from DNA alignment from protein coding genes, so kind of the same as my first figure, these phylogenetic trees were made based on the molecular level of these insects. A close relative to the Acrida Cincerae species, is the Acrida Romaleidae. It is a subfamily of the Acrida Cinerae family. So in terms it is a close relative of my species. The physical properties of this grasshopper is the same as my species Acrida Cinerea, and they are found in the same areas as the Acrida Cinerea species as well. To end this off, I found the finding of the phylogenetic trees very interesting and informative. Most phylogenetic trees I have come across during my time as a biology major have been based on physical characteristics. It was cool to see these trees based on something other than just the physical characteristics.