The higher classification of the hemiptera-homoptera group has recently undergone revision in light of evidence that a binary division between Heteroptera and Homoptera does not accord with the true relationships. Similarly the Auchenorrhyncha seem not to be a natural group in contast to the Sternorrhyncha. Here, we follow the view that the entire hemiptera-homoptera group represent a single order, Hemiptera, with four suborders, Sternorrhyncha (aphids, psyllids, scales, whiteflies), Clypeorrhyncha (leaf hoppers, tree hoppers, cicadas), Archeorrhyncha (plant hoppers and other fulgoroids) and Prosorrhyncha (pelordiids and heteroptera or true bugs).
For an indication of the relationships of Hemipterans to other life forms, see the Tree of Life.
There are several fairly well defined groups of aphids, but the interrelationships among these groups is poorly understood, and the appropriate taxonomic level to which they should be assigned subject to debate. The classification used here is essentially that of Heie (1980). The major groups are given family ranking. Superfamily Aphidoidea is equivalent to the family Aphididae, or Aphididae + Eriosomatidae of most general entomology texts, the phylloxerans and adelgids being placed in a separate superfamily, Phylloxeroidea. See Heie (1980) and Ilharco & van Harten (1987) for summaries of the history of the aphid classification.
Aphids of British Columbia: last update 1998-09-28