PHYLOGENY OF THE SUBFAMILIES OF THE FAMILY BRACONIDAE (HYMENOPTERA: ICHNEUMONOIDEA): A REASSESSMENT |
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| Authors: | RA Wharton SR Shaw MJ Sharkey DB Wahl JB Woolley JB Whitfield PM Marsh W Johnson |
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| Institution: | Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, U.S.A.;Department of Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, U.S.A.;Biosystematics Research Centre, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C6;American Entomological Institute, 3005 SW 56th St., Gainesville, Florida 32608, U.S.A.;Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St Louis, St Louis, Missouri 63121, U.S.A.;Systematics Entomology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, c/o National Museum of Natural History, NHB168, Washington, D.C. 20560, U.S.A.;Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract— The recently published phylogeny of Braconidae by Quicke and van Achterberg is reassessed. Character-state definitions and character polarities are evaluated, and more rigorous methods are suggested. Our results indicate that there are many more parsimonious solutions to their data set, the consensus of which differs substantially from their results. Based on our reassessment, little can be said about the relationships among braconid subfamilies. Consensus trees show the cyclostomes as a largely unresolved basal grade. The two other major lineages which have been proposed, the helconoids and microgastroids, are somewhat better resolved, but not consistently so. Relationships among the helconoids vary considerably depending on the parameters used for parsimony analysis. |
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