Molecular phylogenetics of the melyrid lineage (Coleoptera: Cleroidea)

The melyrid lineage of beetles form a distinct group of the superfamily Cleroidea with a high level of soft‐bodiedness. Here we present the first molecular phylogenetic analysis of this group. The data matrix included partial sequences of the small and large subunits of rRNA, the mitochondrial large subunit rRNA, and cytochrome oxidase subunit I of 67 melyrid and eight outgroup taxa. The concatenated sequences were analysed using maximum‐parsimony (MP), maximum‐likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analysis (BA) approach. The results strongly supported the monophyly of the melyrid lineage splitting into six major clades: Rhadalidae, Mauroniscidae, Prionoceridae, Melyridae sensu stricto, Dasytidae and Malachiidae. The rhadalids were placed in the most basal position, followed by mauroniscids and prionocerids. Three terminal lineages—the true melyrids, dasytids, and malachiids—are well supported by all analyses, but their mutual relationships remain uncertain as MP analysis proposed alternative topologies to that of the ML and BA trees, with often low node support in the latter two methods. The monophyly of the subfamily Danacaeinae (Dasytidae) with respect to the danacaeine genera of the southern hemisphere (Hylodanacaea, Listrocerus, Amecocerus) was challenged as they were found to be polyphyletic. Similarly, the monophyly of Attalus was rejected by our analyses and shown to be polyphyletic. Based on the preferred phylogenetic hypothesis, the subfamilies Rhadalinae, Dasytinae and Malachiinae are elevated to family rank. © The Willi Hennig Society 2011.