The higher classification of the ant subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract. Until now the ant subfamily Leptanillinae has been closely linked with the army ant subfamilies Dorylinae and Ecitoninae, but on relatively tenuous evidence. The current phylogenetic study strongly indicates that this view is incorrect and that the leptanillines really constitute the sister-group of subfamily Ponerinae, and are at a consider- ably greater taxonomic distance from the Army Ant subfamilies. Three tribes are now recognized within the Leptanillinae (Leptanillini; Anomalornyrmini, new tribe; and Apomyrmini, transferred here from Ponerinae: Arnblyoponini), containing a total of eight genera with fewer than fifty species in all. The subfamily and its component tribes are diagnosed and discussed here, and a key to genera provided. New taxa described include Anomalomyrma Taylor gen.n., type-species A. taylori Bolton sp.n. and Protanilla Taylor gen.n., type-species P. rafflesi Taylor sp.n.     

中国呆蓟马属团分类研究及二新种记述（缨翅目： 蓟马科）（英文）

报道了中国呆蓟马属团5属13种, 其中包括2新种--北京呆蓟马Anaphothrips beijingensis sp. n. 和九溪长尾蓟马 Chilothrips jiuxiensis sp. n.; 提供了中国呆蓟马属团的分属检索表及种类分布信息; 并首次在国内发现了苏丹呆蓟马Anaphothrips sudanensis Trybom的黄色雄性个体。     

A generic revision of the Phallodrilinae (Oligochaeta, Tubificidae)

The generic classification of the subfamily Phallodrilinae (with a total of 252 species) is revised according to phylogenetic principles. Morphological character patterns are assessed under the principle of maximum parsimony, but due to the poor resolution and instability in the resulting cladograms, the analysis is supplemented with intuitive weighting of synapomorphic similarities. Thirty-one genera are recognized. The former definition of the type genus Phallodrilus Picrantoni, 1902, is revised and the members of this genus are reclassified into 20 taxa, each hypothesized to be monophyletic: Phallodrilus s.str . (revised to contain the type species only), Somalidrilus gcn.n., Milliganius gen.n., Phallodriloides gen.n., Albanidrilus gen.n., Abyssidrilus gen.n., Paraktedrilus gen.n., Uniporodrilus Erséus, 1979, Inermidrilus gen.n., Gianius gen.n., Mexidrilus gen.n., Peosidrilus Baker & Erséus, 1979, Atlantidrilus Erséus, 1983, Thalassodrilus Brinkhurst, 1963, Pirodrilus gen.n., Pirodriloides gen.n., Marionidrilus gen.n., Pectinodrilus gen.n., Pacifidrilus gen.n. and Pseudospiridion gen.n. Nine new species are described from the Northwest Atlantic: Phallodriloides pinnulatus sp.n., Abyssidrilus opulentus sp.n., A. potens sp.n., A. altoides sp.n., Mexidrilus obtusus sp.n., Peosidrilus dalei sp.n., P. aduncus sp.n., P. riseri sp.n., and Atlantidrilus hamulus sp.n. The genus Discordiprostatus Baker, 1982, is synonymized with Nootkadrilus Baker, 1982.     

A revision of Eurysphindus LeConte (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Sphindidae) and a review of sphindid classification and phytogeny

Abstract. Eurysphindus LeConte is revised and redescribed, Genisphindus gen.n. is described and a key to the species is given for each. Four new species of Eurysphindus are described: E.comatulus sp.n., E.grandiclaviger sp.n., E.halli sp.n. and E.infuscus sp.n. Eurysphindus brasiliensis Sen Gupta & Crowson, Eurysphindus plaumanni Sen Gupta & Crowson and Eurysphindus hirtus LeConte are redescribed. Four species of Genisphindus are described: G.latisternus sp.n., G.minor sp.n., G.rotundus sp.n. and G.roxanneae sp.n. Eurysphindus laevicollis Sen Gupta & Crowson is reassigned to Genisphindus. A tentative hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships of sphindid genera is presented based on a cladistic analysis. A classification derived from the phylogenetic hypothesis is proposed and compared with that of Sen Gupta & Crowson (1977). A generic key to adult Sphindidae is provided. Known distributions for the genera of sphindids are considered in light of the phylogenetic hypothesis and various interpretations are proposed.     

Systematics of the tribe Euderomphalini (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae): parasitoids of whiteflies (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae)

Abstract. Eulophid parasitoids of whiteflies are reviewed, with comments on their systematic placement, and a generic key. All eulophid whitefly parasitoids are placed in the tribe Euderomphalini in the subfamily Entedoninae, and reasons for this placement are discussed. Three new genera are described. The seven included genera can be divided into two distinct genus groups: the Euderomphale group contains Baeoentedon Girault, Euderomphale Girault, Neopomphale gen.n., and Pomphale Husain el al. ; the Enicdononecremnus group contains Aleuroctonus gen.n., Dasyompluile gen.n., and Enicdononecremnus Girault. The new species Dusyomphale chilensis is described.     

Zoraptera wing structures: evidence for new genera and relationship with the blattoid orders (Insecta: Blattoneoptera)

Abstract. The order Zoraptera has traditionally been thought to contain only one family (Zorotypidae) and one genus ( Zorotypus Silvestri). An analysis of known zorapteran wings shows that the wing venation contains character sets indicative of the existence of seven genera: Zorotypus, Brazilozoros gen.n., Centrozoros gen.n., Floridazoros gen.n., Latinozoros gen.n., Meridozoros gen.n. and Usazoros gen.n. The wing venation of Meridozoros leleupi (Weidner) from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador and Venezuela is described here for the first time.
The major wing structures show that Zoraptera belong to the blattoid lineage. Head and abdomen characters indicate that Zoraptera probably diverged from the Blattoneoptera stock early, almost certainly before the (Protelytroptera + Dermaptera) line, and much before the (Isoptera + (Blattodea + Mantodea)) line. A homologized wing vein system is proposed for the Isoptera.
The homologized wing vein system is based on the hypothesis that the Pterygota originated with the development of protowings, which then diverged through separate but characteristic adaptations for flapping flight. Therefore the basic wing venation pattern is monophyletic, but the changes in wing musculature, articulation and basic braces between main veins are different in the major (super-ordinal) pterygote lineages (Pleconeoptera, Orthoneoptera, Blattoneoptera, Hemineoptera and Endoneoptera). Thus, these characters provide an extremely useful, almost untapped, source of data for higher-level systematics. Both higher-level and lower-level wing characters have been applied here to the phylogeny of Zoraptera and are discussed.     

New fossil Ochteridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Ochteroidea) from the Upper Mesozoic of north‐eastern China,with phylogeny of the family

Specimens of the velvety shore bugs (Hemiptera: Ochtheridae) occur in the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation in north‐eastern China. We describe two new genera and three new species –Pristinochterus ovatus Yao, Zhang & Ren sp. nov., Floricaudus multilocellus Yao, Ren & Shih gen.n. et sp.n. and Angulochterus quatrimaculatus Yao, Zhang & Ren gen.n. et sp.n. – from this deposit. A cladistic analysis based on a combination of fossil and extant taxa, and their morphological characters, clarifies the phylogenetic status of the new fossils and allows the reconstruction of relationships within the family Ochteridae. Two main clades within Ochteridae are recognized from the cladistic analysis: Pristinochterus Yao Cai & Ren and Floricaudus Yao, Ren & Shih gen.n. form a monophyletic lineage; and Angulochterus Yao, Zhang & Ren gen.n. emerges as a sister group to all extant velvety shore bugs. A key to all fossil and extant genera of Ochteridae is provided.     

New fossils from China elucidating the phylogeny of Praesiricidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera)

A new subfamily of Praesiricidae (Pamphilioidea), Decorisiricinae subfam.n. , is erected based on three new genera: Decorisiricius gen.n. , Limbisiricius gen.n. and Brevisiricius gen.n. Two new species – Decorisiricius patulus gen. et sp.n. and D. longus sp.n. – from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation and three species –Limbisiricius aequalis gen. et sp.n. , Limbisiricius complanatus sp.n. and Brevisiricius partialis gen. et sp.n. – from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation, are described. Based on these well‐preserved new fossil specimens and previously published data, the nonmonophyly of Praesiricidae is confirmed and the phylogenetic relationships of species of Praesiricidae are analysed for the first time. Two main clades within Praesiricidae are recognized from the cladistic analysis: Decorisiricinae subfam.n. forms a monophyletic lineage, with the remaining members of Praesiricidae plus Megalodontes (Megalodontesidae) forming its sister group. The two subfamilies Archoxyelydinae and Praesiricinae are discarded with no strong supported synapomorphic characters based on phylogenetic research. A key to all genera of Praesiricidae is provided. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:38D703ED‐127A‐4DB0‐8153‐8D78AF4AC212 .     

Phylogenetic study of Fulgensia and allied Caloplaca and Xanthoria species (Teloschistaceae, lichen-forming ascomycota)

Fulgensia Massal. & De Not. is a widespread genus with considerable morphological and ecological heterogeneity across species. For this reason, the taxonomic delimitation of this genus has been controversial. Relationships among species of Fulgensia, Caloplaca Th. Fr., and Xanthoria (Fr.) Th. Fr. (Lecanorales) were investigated based on a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of 62 DNA sequences from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region using maximum parsimony (MP) and likelihood (ML). Ambiguously aligned (INAASE coded characters) and unambiguous regions were analyzed separately and combined when using MP as the optimization criterion. All our analyses confirm the polyphyly of this genus as three distinct lineages: Fulgensia sensu stricto, F. australis, and F. schistidii. We report here that Caloplaca, Fulgensia, and Xanthoria together form two main sister lineages. One lineage includes Fulgensia schistidii (part of the C. saxicola group), Xanthoria, and most of the lobed Caloplaca species belonging to the Gasparrinia group. A second main lineage comprises the remaining Caloplaca species, Fulgensia sensu stricto, and F. australis. Therefore, the traditional generic level classification schemes for the family Teloschistaceae appear to be highly artificial. All three genera were found to be nonmonophyletic. We demonstrate here that the ITS is appropriate to resolve relationships across the Teloschistaceae. However, a combination of an MP analysis, in which ambiguously aligned regions are accommodated using INAASE, with an ML analysis, in which phylogenetic confidence is estimated using a Bayesian approach, is needed.     

Phylogenetic revision of the Taenogera Kröber genus-group (Diptera: Therevidae), with descriptions of two new genera

The phylogenetic relationships of the Taenogera genus-group, consisting of nine genera, are examined using cladistic methods. Twenty-one species representing nine genera and one outgroup were compared in a cladistic analysis across 99 states in 44 characters. The genus Taenogera Kröber is revised to contain only T. longa (Schiner), T. nitida (Macquart) and T. notatithorax Mann. Two new genera are described and figured: Actenomeros gen. n., with two species, A. corniculaticaudus sp. n. and A. onyx sp. n.; and Taenogerella gen. n., with four species, Ta. elizabethae sp. n., Ta. platina sp. n., Ta. schlingeri sp. n. and Ta . nigrapicalis (Mann) comb. n. Phylogenetic analysis also supports the removal of Nanexila gracilis (Mann) comb. n. from Taenogera .     

An analysis of the classification of the Ophion genus-group (Ichneumonidae)

Abstract. The generic classification of the Ophion genus-group is revised following consideration of the basis of the present classificatory system and the results of analyses of fifty-nine characters in sixty-nine species representing nineteen nominal genera. Results are presented in the form of an average linkage dendrogram, a nearest neighbour plot, a principal coordinate plot, generic diagnoses and a key to the twelve genera here recognized: Afrophion gen.n., Agathophiona Westwood, Alophophion Cushman, Eremotylus Foerster (= Boethoneura Cushman, Chilophion Cushman, Chlorophion Townes, Clistorapha Cushman, Genophion Felt syn.n.), Hellwigiella Szépligeti, Ophion Fabricius (= Apatophion Shestakov, Apomesus Townes, Mecetron Townes, Platophion Hellén syn.n.), Rhopalophion Seyrig, Riekophion Gauld, Sclerophion gen.n ., Sicophion gen.n., Trophophion Cushman, Xylophion gen.n.     

Phylogenetic reassessment and biogeography of the Ectateus generic group (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Platynotina)

Owing to the reinterpretation of its morphological synapomorphies, the taxonomic composition of the Ectateus generic group had been ambiguous. The present study scrutinized all existing taxonomic concepts of the group based on a cladistic analysis of the adult morphology of all of the Afrotropical platynotoid Platynotina genera. The phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed using parsimony and Bayesian inference. The results show that all previous taxonomic concepts of the Ectateus generic group concerned paraphyletic entities. The cladistic analysis revealed the following synapomorphies for the taxon: (1) presence of basal indentations of the pronotal disc, (2) ratio of prothorax width to its maximal height > 6.0, and (3) ratio of maximal height of the prothorax to total height < 0.3. Moreover, phylogenetic studies revealed the existence of the Upembarus generic group, a sister‐taxon group to the Ectateus generic group, within the Afrotropical platynotoid Platynotina. Autapomorphic and synapomorphic character mapping show that several taxonomic and nomenclatural changes are needed to consider the particular generic‐level entities traditionally assigned to Afrotropical platynotoid Platynotina as monophyletic lineages. The following taxonomic and nomenclatural adjustments are made in this paper: P teroselinus gen. nov. is erected to accommodate a single species that was previously assigned to Zidalus: Pteroselinus insularis comb. nov. Additionally, the following synonymies are proposed: Anchophthalmops (= Platykochius syn. nov. ), Angolositus (= Aberlencus syn. nov. , = Platymedvedevia syn. nov. ), Glyptopteryx (= Microselinus syn. nov. , = Quadrideres syn. nov. , = Synquadrideres syn. nov. ). In addition, Kochogaster is lowered in rank and is treated as one of the subgenera of Anchophthalmus. Moreover, Pseudoselinus is treated as a subgenus of Upembarus. An identification key to all Afrotropical platynotoid Platynotina genera and subgenera is presented. Zoogeographical analyses revealed the following dispersal barriers for the Ectateus generic group: (1) the Sahara (northern barrier); (2) the dry ecosystems of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa (southern barrier); and (3) the Congolian rainforests (internal distributional gap). The ancestor of the taxon probably originated in East African ecoregions that predominantly contained wattletrees (acacias) and Commiphora Jacq. Moreover, past climate changes seem to have had a great impact on the observed generic distribution. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London     

The phylogenetic relationships of the physaloid genera (Solanaceae) based on morphological data

A group of genera, e.g., Chamaesaracha, Leucophysalis, Physaliastrum, Margaranthus, and Withania, in the subfamily Solanoideae (Solanaceae) is centered around the genus Physalis and has been named the physaloid group. It comprises a number of small and often poorly known genera, sometimes seen as united with Physalis and/or each other. A hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships within this group, based on parsimony analyses of morphological data, is here presented for the first time. The result is discussed in relation to prevailing generic circumsciptions and taxonomic consequences. It is also compared with hypotheses of relationships based on cpDNA data.     

Molecular phylogeny of Geoplaninae (Platyhelminthes) challenges current classification: proposal of taxonomic actions

Despite likely being the most diverse group within the Tricladida, the systematics of land planarians (Geoplanidae) has received minor attention. The most species‐rich ingroup, the subfamily Geoplaninae, is restricted to the Neotropics. The systematics of Geoplaninae remains uncertain. Unique features supporting the genera are scanty; moreover, parts of the known species have been poorly described, making comparative studies difficult. Likewise the evolutionary relationships among land planarians remain insufficiently understood. In the present study, a phylogenetic hypothesis for selected taxa of Geoplaninae based on the molecular data is presented and discussed in the light of morphological features. Our phylogenetic inference is based on the fragments of three nuclear regions (18S, 28S rDNA and EF‐1α) and a mitochondrial marker (cytochrome oxidase I) for which we considered three optimality criteria (parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference). Although our data provide little support for most basal nodes, our phylogenetic trees show a number of well‐supported clades, unveiling morphologically homogeneous groups. According to these results, we propose to separate Geoplana into Barreirana (formerly considered a subgenus), Cratera gen. n., Imbira gen. n., Matuxia gen. n., Obama gen. n. and Paraba gen. n., emend the diagnoses of Barreirana, Geoplana, Notogynaphallia, Pasipha and Xerapoa and review the classification of the species within these genera. For Geoplana goetschi sensu Marcus, (1951), a new name is proposed.     

The first Ironomyiidae from mid‐Cretaceous Burmese amber provides insights into the phylogeny of Phoroidea (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha)

Macalpinomyia jiewenae gen. et sp.n. is described from the mid‐Cretaceous (～99 Ma) amber of Myanmar. Macalpinomyia jiewenae is the first Oriental representative of the enigmatic family Ironomyiidae (Diptera: Phoroidea), currently known from a single extant genus restricted to southeastern Australia, plus a monotypic genus from Canadian amber and three controversial genera based on impression fossils from China, Mongolia and Russia. A phylogenetic analysis of all Phoroidea families, including all ironomyiid extant and extinct genera, corroborates the monophyly of Ironomyiidae, and Macalpinomyia gen.n. is assigned to the subfamily Sinolestinae. Cretonomyiinae subfam.n. , is erected to accommodate the basal lineage of Ironomyiidae. Lebambromyia acrai Grimaldi & Cumming, previously placed in Ironomyiidae, is supported as an early branching lineage of Platypezidae. Our topology proposes that Ironomyiidae is sister to the remaining Phoroidea. The phylogenetic results, in combination with the fossil ages and relevant molecular divergence time analysis, suggests that Ironomyiidae probably originated at least in the Berriasian of the Early Cretaceous (～140 Ma). This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5DFFC944‐1350‐418E‐BCDC‐BB87FC013D5D .     

长足虻亚科系统发育研究及三新属记述(双翅目,长足虻科)

采用支序分析的方法首次对古北和东洋区长足虻亚科的24属3亚属之间的系统发育关系进行了分析.结果表明,长足虻亚科为一严格的单系群,其中Ahercostomus、Allohercostomus、Tachytrechus和Aphalacrosoma为一单系群,Tachytrechus和Aphalacrosoma为姐妹群.原为寡长足虻属Hercostomus亚属之一的Gymnopternus与新属Setihercostomus的亲缘关系较近,为有效属.粗柄长足虻属Ludovicius与Sybistroma为一严格单系群,建议合并为一属.弓脉长足虻属Paraclius Coquillet应为Pelastoneurus的异名.建立3新属,即准长毛长足虻属Aphypophyllus gen nov,模式种Ahy-pophyllus sinensis(Yang,1996);准白长足虻属Aphalacrosoma gen nov,模式种Aphalacrosoma postiseta(Yang et Saigusa,2001);毛颜寡长足虻属Setihercostomus gen nov.,模式种Setihercostomus zonalis(Yang,Yang et Li,1998).原为寡长足虻属的亚属Ahercostomus提升为属,模式种Hercostomus(Ahercostomus)jiangchenganus(Yang et Saigusa,2001).建立的新组合为:Ahypophytlus sinensis(Yang,1996)comb. nov. , Aphalacrosoma hubeiense (Yang, 1998) comb. nov., A. postiseta (Yang et Saigusa, 2001) comb. nov.,A. sichuanense (Yang et Saigusa, 1999) comb. nov., Seti hercostomus setifacies (Stackelberg, 1934) comb. nov., S. zonalis (Yang, Yang et Li, 1998)comb. nov., S. wuyangensis (Wei, 1997) comb. nov., S. huangi (Zhang, Yang et Masunaga, 2004) and Ahercostomus jiangchenganus (Yanget Saigusa, 2001) comb. nov. .     

Bayesian mixed models and the phylogeny of pitvipers (Viperidae: Serpentes)

The subfamily Crotalinae (pitvipers) contains over 190 species of venomous snakes distributed in both the Old and New World. We incorporated an extensive sampling of taxa (including 28 of 29 genera), and sequences of four mitochondrial gene fragments (2.3kb) per individual, to estimate the phylogeny of pitvipers based on maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic methods. Our Bayesian analyses incorporated complex mixed models of nucleotide evolution that allocated independent models to various partitions of the dataset within combined analyses. We compared results of unpartitioned versus partitioned Bayesian analyses to investigate how much unpartitioned (versus partitioned) models were forced to compromise estimates of model parameters, and whether complex models substantially alter phylogenetic conclusions to the extent that they appear to extract more phylogenetic signal than simple models. Our results indicate that complex models do extract more phylogenetic signal from the data. We also address how differences in phylogenetic results (e.g., bipartition posterior probabilities) obtained from simple versus complex models may be interpreted in terms of relative credibility. Our estimates of pitviper phylogeny suggest that nearly all recently proposed generic reallocations appear valid, although certain Old and New World genera (Ovophis, Trimeresurus, and Bothrops) remain poly- or paraphyletic and require further taxonomic revision. While a majority of nodes were resolved, we could not confidently estimate the basal relationships among New World genera and which lineage of Old World species is most closely related to this New World group.     

Evolution of wing polymorphism and genital asymmetry in the thread‐legged bugs of the tribe Metapterini Stål (Hemiptera,Reduviidae, Emesinae) based on morphological characters

Wing polymorphism and asymmetric male genitalia are intriguing morphological phenomena occurring in insects. Among Emesinae, or thread‐legged bugs, the tribe Metapterini Stål exhibits these two interesting morphological attributes. Nonetheless, evolutionary interpretations of these phenomena cannot be put forward because phylogenetic hypotheses for Emesinae are lacking. Thread‐legged bugs are easily recognized among assassin bugs due to their elongated and seemingly delicate body. The tribe Metapterini has 28 genera and approximately 280 described species. The only available phylogenetic hypothesis among Emesinae tribes was proposed by Wygodzinsky (1966), and it hypothesized Deliastini Villiers as the sister group of Metapterini, although this hypothesis has never been tested with cladistic approaches. Recent analyses using character sets of genitalia and prolegs suggest that Metapterini might not be monophyletic. In order to test these ideas, we compiled a morphological dataset of 138 characters that includes external morphological characters, detailed features of prolegs and genitalia of both sexes for Metapterini, which were analysed cladistically including 55 terminals, comprising 24 genera (85.7% of the generic diversity), 43 species of Metapterini and 12 outgroups. Metapterini was recovered as paraphyletic by the inclusion of Bergemesa Wygodzinsky, Palacus Dohrn and Stalemesa Wygodzinsky, all currently assigned to Deliastini. Gardena Dohrn (Emesini) was recovered as the sister group of Metapterini + Deliastini as suggested by Wygodzinsky (1966). Based on these results, we synonymize Deliastini syn. n. with Metapterini sensu n. and propose two new genera: Bacata Castro‐Huertas & Forero gen. n. , for three Andean species previously placed in Liaghinella Wygodzinsky, and Valkyriella Castro‐Huertas & Forero gen. n. for Ghilianella borgmeieri Wygodzinsky. Ancestral state reconstruction of wing polymorphism indicates that males and females were fully winged in the ancestor of Metapterini sensu n. with two independent evolutionary transitions to the apterous and brachypterous conditions. The analysis of the symmetry of the male genitalia shows an ancestor with symmetric male genitalia and two independent emergences of asymmetrical male genitalia in Metapterini.     

A Phylogenetic Study of Tribe Euphorbieae (Euphorbiaceae)

A phylogenetic investigation of a monophyletic lineage of spurge plants, tribe Euphorbieae, was conducted to elucidate evolutionary relationships, to clarify biogeographic patterns, and to reexamine the previous classification of Euphorbieae. Cladistic analyses of the 52 morphological characters of 61 species resulted in 2922 equally most parsimonious trees of 193 steps with a consistency index of 0.34. The strict consensus tree indicates genus Anthostema of subtribe Anthosteminae as a likely sister group to all other members of tribe Euphorbieae. The morphological data support a monophyletic origin of subtribe Euphorbiinae, but the subtribes Anthosteminae and Neoquillauminiinae did not form monophyletic groups. Although the previous taxonomic treatments within tribe Euphorbieae have supported the generic status of Pedilanthus, Monadenium, Synadenium, Chamaesyce, and Elaeophorbia, the results of this analysis do not support generic placement of them based on cladistic principles. Recognition of these groups as genera results in Euphorbia becoming a paraphyletic group. One solution to this problem in Euphorbieae is to divide the largest genus Euphorbia into several monophyletic genera and to keep the generic ranks for previously recognized genera. The distribution of basal endemic genera in Euphorbieae showed African and east Gondwanan affinities and strongly indicated that the ancestor of Euphorbieae originated prior to the breakup of Gondwanaland from an old group in Euphorbiaceae. However, some recent African taxa of Euphorbia should be interpreted by transoceanic dispersal from the New World ancestors.     

Systematics of Australian Thrasorinae (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea, Figitidae) with descriptions of Mikeiinae, new subfamily, two new genera, and three new species

The Australian Thrasorinae are revised and Mikeius is transferred to Mikeiinae Paretas-Martínez & Pujade-Villar, subfam. n., and Mikeius clavatus Pujade-Villar & Restrepo-Ortiz, sp. n., is described. Two new genera of Thrasorinae are erected: Cicatrix Paretas-Martínez, gen. n., including Cicatrix pilosiscutum(Girault), comb. n. from Amblynotus, Cicatrix schauffi (Buffington), comb. n. from Mikeius, and Cicatrix neumannoides Paretas-Martínez & Restrepo-Ortiz, sp. n.; and Palmiriella Pujade-Villar & Paretas-Martínez, gen. n., including Palmiriella neumanni (Buffington), comb. n. from Mikeius, Thrasorus rieki Paretas-Martínez & Pujade-Villar, sp. n., is also described. A phylogenetic analysis of 176 morphological and biological characters, including all these new taxa and all genera previously included in Thrasorinae, was conducted. All subfamilies were recovered as monophyletic, with the following relationships: Parnipinae (Euceroptrinae (Mikeiinae (Plectocynipinae (Thrasorinae)))). A worldwide key to the subfamilies of Figitidae is provided that includes the new subfamily, as well as a key to genera Thrasorinae.