Abstract To understand the driving forces of speciation in grasshoppers of the subfamily Gomphocerinae, we compared a molecular phylogenetic tree with the distribution of the song pattern complexity and courtship behavior. In 50 grasshopper species of Gomphocerinae, a barcoding region of mitochondrial gene COI was sequenced and analyzed. A plesiomorphic pattern of calling song was shown to be predominant in the species of the most basal clusters, including the tribes Chrysochraontini, Dociostaurini and Arcypterini. In the tribes Stenobothrini and Gomphocerini, plesiomorphic pattern of the calling song was found in less than half of the species studied; others demonstrated increasing song complexity. The species of the basal cluster of the phylogenetic tree did not show complex courtship songs. Courtship songs that are different and more complex than the calling songs were only found in about half of species belonging to the tribes Stenobothrini and Gomphocerini. Most species with complex courtship (specie...