PHYLOGENETIC, HOST AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF THE PILOPHORINI (HETEROPTERA: MIRIDAE: PHYLINAE)

Abstract A cladistic analysis is performed for 114 species of Pilophorini, using 73 characters with 190 states. Illustrations or figure references to the literature are provided for most characters. The resultant Nelson (strict) consensus cladogram is used as a justification for the recognition of the following genera: Alepidiella Poppius, Aloea Linnavuori, Druthmarus Distant, Hypseloecus Reuter, Neoambonea Schuh, Parambonea Schuh, Parasthenaridea Miller, Pherolepis Kulik (paraphyletic), Pilophorus Hahn, and Sthenaridea Reuter (paraphylectic). Pilophorus indonesicus is proposed as a replacement name for Bilirania sumatrana Schuh (= Pilophorus ), a secondary homonym of Pilophorus sumatranus Poppius. A list of currently recognized genera and species with summary distributions and host plant associations, and a key to genera are included.
Host associations are plotted on the cladogram to reveal the pattern of host shifts. At the generic level and above, a pattern of colonization, rather than co-evolution, is strongly indicated; at the species level, genera of Pilophorini often show restricted plant-group associations, but no clear pattern of coevolution emerges. Major distributional patterns in the Philophorini are mapped, discussed and compared with historical biogeographic schemes for some other groups. The Pilophorini appear to be of tropical Gondwanan origin with subsequent spread into, and differentiation in, the temperate Northern Hemisphere.