Abstract
The phylogenetical relationships between eleven Japanese lace bugs were studied using zymogram variation. Stephanitis takeyai, S. fasciicarina, S. svensoni and S. yasumatsui constituted one cluster. S. nashi, however, occurred in a group with other genera. This result was concordant with their overwintering state. This suggests that S. nashi should not be assigned to the genus Stephanitis. Overwintering at the egg stage appears to be an ancestral character of the genus Stephanitis. Examination of records of host plants suggest that polyphagy, as in S. takeyai, was an ancestral character, and that monophagous species developed afterward.
