4 research outputs found

    A molecular phylogeny of the checkered beetles and a description of E

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    We provide the first molecular phylogeny of the clerid lineage (Coleoptera: Cleridae, Thanerocleridae) within the superfamily Cleroidea to examine the two most recently proposed hypotheses of higher level classification. Phylogenetic relationships of checkered beetles were inferred from approximately ∼5000nt of both nuclear and mitochondrial rDNA (28S, 16S and 12S) and the mitochondrial protein-coding gene COI. A worldwide sample of ∼70 genera representing almost a quarter of generic diversity of the clerid lineage was included and phylogenies were reconstructed using Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood approaches. Results support the monophyly of many proposed subfamilies but were not entirely congruent with either current classification system. The subfamilial relationships within the Cleridae are resolved with support for three main lineages. Tillinae are supported as the sister group to all other subfamilies within the Cleridae, whereas Thaneroclerinae, Korynetinae and a new subfamily formally described here, Epiclininae subf.n., form a sister group to Clerinae+Hydnocerinae. © 2013 The Royal Entomological Society

    A comprehensive phylogeny of flat bark beetles (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) with a revised classification and a new South American genus

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    The phylogenetic relationships within the beetle family Cucujidae were investigated for the first time. Fifty-seven morphological characters were used for maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses. Mitochondrial genomes were generated from museum specimens through genome skimming and used for phylogenetic analyses in a maximum likelihood framework due to the difficulty in collecting many of the Cucujidae species and the lack of availability of ethanol-preserved specimens. Both morphological and molecular analyses supported the monophyly of the four established genera: Cucujus Fabricius, Pediacus Shuckard, Palaestes Perty, and Platisus Erichson. They also led to the description of a new genus, Thesaurus gen.n., from South America, and the recognition of two new subfamilies, Pediacinae subfam.n. and Platisinae subfam.n. Diagnoses of Cucujidae subfamilies and genera are provided along with illustrations and keys for their identification. Phylogenetic relationships between the genera were analysed and discussed based on morphological and molecular data. Three new species were described in Thesaurus gen.n.: T. albertalleni gen. et sp.n. from Venezuela, T. zaitsevi sp.n. from Peru, and T. macclarini sp.n. from Ecuador. Illustrations and a key to species are provided. The previously unknown larvae of Palaestes and Thesaurus are illustrated and described for the first time. The Eocene fossil species, Platisus punctatus (Ramírez, Corsolini & Di Iorio), from Patagonia, Argentina, is here transferred to the genus Thesaurus. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BF6C58C0-C390-4C32-9243-2483B6FBE369
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