A molecular phylogenetic study of representatives of North American Oedipodinae, the band-winged grasshoppers, was performed to clarify their taxonomic relationships and questions regarding their origins. Portions of 2 mitochondrial genes, cyt b and 16S ribo-somal RNA, were sequenced and subjected to parsimony, neighbor-joining and maximum likelihood analyses. A single tree was recovered in the parsimony search, largely identical to those obtained using the other procedures. The following clades emerged: A (Metator + Trachyrhachys), B (Camnula + (Arphia conspersa + A. pseudonietana)); C (Dissosteira + (Circotettix + (Spharagemon collare + (Trimerotropis + Spharagemon campestris)))); and D (Encoptolophus + Chortophaga). Assemblages A and D are consistent with established genus groups using traditional characters. Cluster D is basal to all Oedipodinae examined. Relationships among A, B, and C could not be resolved. Molecular data supported a previously held belief that Spharagemon campestris McNeill is more closely affiliated with Trimerotropis than with a congener. Circotettix, currently regarded as a member of the genus group Bryodema, is placed within another genus group, Sphingonotus, in accordance with earlier opinions. Phylogenetic analyses, in examining the possibility that North American Oedipodinae are monophy-letic, support the contrary view. Finally, the data suggest that the taxonomic status of the subfamily itself is uncertain, given the relationships among its members and a species from another subfamily.