Cladistic analysis and taxonomic revision of the genus Karos Goodnight & Goodnight, 1944 (Opiliones,Laniatores, Stygnopsidae)

A cladistic analysis of the genus Karos Goodnight & Goodnight, 1944, was performed using morphological data of the somatic and male genitalia characters. The analysis included 23 terminal taxa, including nine of the 11 described species of the genus plus nine new species according to the previous generic diagnosis and five species as outgroups. According to the topologies obtained by parsimony analyses, the genus is a paraphyletic assemblage, referred here as the Karos genus‐group. Therefore, the genus Karos is rediagnosed here and now includes seven species: Karos barbarikos Goodnight & Goodnight, 1944 (type), Karos parvus Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971, Karos projectus Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971, K aros hexasetosus sp. nov. , K aros monjarazi sp. nov. , K aros singularis sp. nov. , and K aros tersum sp. nov. The genera Monterella Goodnight & Goodnight, 1944, Montabunus Goodnight & Goodnight, 1945, Chapulobunus Goodnight & Goodnight, 1946, and Potosa Goodnight & Goodnight, 1947 are revalidated, rediagnosed, their respective type species are redescribed and the following species are described: Chapulobunus poblano sp. nov. and Potosa reddelli sp. nov. The genera Crettaros gen. nov. , Huasteca gen. nov. , and Mictlana gen. nov. , and the following species are described: Crettaros santibanezi sp. nov. (type), Crettaros valdezi sp. nov. , and Huasteca silhavyi sp. nov. The following new combinations are proposed: Huasteca gratiosa (Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971) comb. nov. (type), Huasteca rugosa (Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971) comb. nov. and Mictlana inops (Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971) comb. nov. (type). Karos brignolii ?ilhavý, 1974, is considered a junior synonym of Huasteca rugosa. Finally, ‘Karos’ depressus Goodnight & Goodnight, 1971 is considered incertae sedis until adult males can be studied. Diagnoses of the Karos and Paramitraceras genus‐groups, and an identification key to the eight genera and 19 species of the former are provided. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London     

Molecules and morphology reveal a new aberrant harvestman genus of Ortholasmatinae (Opiliones,Dypsnoi, Nemastomatidae) from Mexico

Ortholasmatinae is one of the most striking groups of Opiliones, because its members exhibit a peculiar dorsal ornamentation pattern of cells, formed by fusion of anvil-shaped tubercles. During the systematic revision of several specimens of ortholasmatines, we found specimens with shared morphological characters with two genera Trilasma Goodnight & Goodnight, 1942 and Dendrolasma Banks, 1894. In order to investigate their phylogenetic relationships, we performed model-based phylogenetic analyses using the mitochondrial protein-encoding cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) and the complete nuclear ribosomal small subunit 18S, including members of the five genera of this subfamily. The results support the creation of Cryptolasma Cruz-López, Cruz-Bonilla & Francke, gen. nov., and two new species: Cryptolasma aberrante Cruz-López, Cruz-Bonilla & Francke, sp. nov. (type species) and Cryptolasma citlaltepetl Cruz-López, Cruz-Bonilla & Francke, sp. nov., which are from Xalapa and Orizaba Volcano, Veracruz, respectively. Additionally, our results suggest Ruaxphilos petrukenvitchou Goodnight & Goodnight, 1945 is a nomina dubia. This study represents the first molecular hypothesis of Ortholasmatinae relationships, with Cryptolasma as the sister of the remaining ortholasmatine.www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3730EE48-9802-4B06-9DDF-EC1AFE9A3B61     

Revision and phylogenetic assessment of the rove beetle genus Pseudohesperus Hayashi,with broad reference to the subtribe Philonthina (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylinini)

This paper studies the phylogeny of the rove beetle subtribe Philonthina, to test its hypothetical monophyly and to unravel the evolutionary relationships of the subtribe and its included genus‐level taxa, with emphasis on the genus Pseudohesperus and its close‐allied relatives. The phylogenetic analyses are based on 105 adult morphological characters and 66 terminal taxa, i.e., all six members of Pseudohesperus, 51 species to represent 29 other genera of the subtribe Philonthina, seven species to represent the other six subtribes of Staphylinini, one species of the tribes Arrowinini, and one of the Platyprosopini. According to the phylogenetic results obtained, the genus Erichsonius should move out from the hitherto‐defined subtribe Philonthina and thus the monophyly of this taxon is challenged. The phylogenetic tree suggests that the genera Hesperus and Belonuchus might not be monophyletic, but the monophyly of Pseudohesperus and the sister relationship between it and Bisnius are well supported. The species‐level phylogenetic relationships of the genus Pseudohesperus reveal a clear pattern of species diversification that can be correlated well with the species' zoogeographical patterns. The paper also revises the taxonomy of Pseudohesperus and describes five new species from China: Pseudohesperus luteus Li & Zhou sp. nov. , Pseudohesperus pedatiformis Li & Zhou sp. nov. , Pseudohesperus tripartitus Li & Zhou sp. nov. , Pseudohesperus sparsipunctatus Li & Zhou sp. nov. , and Bisnius lubricus Li & Zhou sp. nov. An identification key to the species of Pseudohesperus is provided and their geographical distributions are mapped. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 163 , 679–722.     

The species‐level phylogeny of archostematan beetles—where do Micromalthus debilis and Crowsoniella relicta belong?

A species‐level phylogenetic analysis comprising 37 of the 45 known extant species of archostematan beetles and a total of 110 morphological characters from adults and larvae is presented. For the first time, characters of the male genitalia are included in a phylogenetic analysis of Archostemata. The dataset is analysed with parsimony as well as with Bayesian algorithms. Analyses with differently arranged datasets, with larval characters included or excluded, and including or excluding Micromalthus debilis and Crowsoniella relicta are conducted. The resulting hypothesis of the species‐level phylogeny of Archostemata confirms Cupedidae and Ommatidae as monophyletic taxa. Within Cupedidae, the South American Paracupes and the North American Priacma together are the sister group to all remaining Cupedidae. Among the latter, the identification of a clade comprising Rhipsideigma, Cupes capitatus and Tenomerga leucophaea renders Tenomerga polyphyletic. Ascioplaga scalena comb. nov . is transferred from Adinolepis. Characters of the male genitalia support phylogenetic affinities of Micromalthus debilis with Ommatidae and of Crowsoniella relicta with Cupedidae.     

Testing the phylogenetic utility of morphological character systems,with a revision of Creophilus Leach (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

Many studies have examined the phylogenetic utility of different kinds of molecular data, and have often compared these with morphology. However, relatively few studies have phylogenetically evaluated different morphological character systems. Using the Creophilus complex, the phylogenetic utility of external structural characters, male genitalia, female genitalia, and chaetotaxy of adults is examined for the first time in the megadiverse beetle family Staphylinidae. A data set of 121 phylogenetically informative characters of 24 terminal taxa was analysed separately and simultaneously using parsimony and the phylogenetic utility of each partition was compared with widely used statistics and support measures. External structures had the least homoplasy, resolved the most nodes separately, and largely determined the topology of the simultaneous analysis. Male and female genitalia contributed phylogenetic signal mostly congruent with external characters. Despite extensive homoplasy, chaetotaxy contributed the majority of hidden support, and was critical for resolving several terminal nodes in the simultaneous analysis. All character systems were informative throughout the tree, and when combined provided the best‐supported hypothesis. However, there is a need to distinguish hidden support from dispersion of homoplasy when combining data sets of varying quality. The Creophilus complex, Creophilus Leach, Liusus Sharp, and the Creophilus erythrocephalus ( Fabricius ) and C. maxillosus (Linnaeus) species‐groups are each strongly supported monophyletic groups. Hadrotes Mäklin is not monophyletic and Hadrotes wakefieldi Cameron is the sister‐species of the rest of the Creophilus complex, but included within it. Creophilus is revised to include 12 species, including Creophilus galapagensis sp. nov. and C. rekohuensis sp. nov. Creophilus huttoni (Broun) is removed from synonymy with C. oculatus (Fabricius), and C. insularis (Fauvel), C. villipennis Kraatz, and C. violaceus (Fauvel) are synonymized under C. flavipennis (Hope) comb. et stat. nov. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 163 , 723–812.     

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.     

Is Cyclocardia (Conrad) a wastebasket taxon? Exploring the phylogeny of the most diverse genus of the Carditidae (Archiheterodonta,Bivalvia)

The carditid genus Cyclocardia is currently the most diverse genus of the family, including nearly 180 nominal species encompassing wide stratigraphical (Cretaceous–Recent) and geographical (Antarctica, South and North America, Europe, Africa, Alaska, Russia, Japan and New Zealand) ranges. Due to the lack of autapomorphies in the diagnosis of the genus and its large account of species, we re-evaluate the systematic and phylogenetic status of Cyclocardia. We applied three approaches: bibliographic revision, phylogenetic analysis and an exploration of morphological disparity. We used a shell–character matrix comprising 65 taxa (2 outgroups, 29 non-Cyclocardia carditids and 28 species of Cyclocardia) for phylogenetic and disparity analyses. Maximum Observable Rescaled Distances was used to construct a distance matrix to compare Cyclocardia species and other carditid groups. According to our results, Cyclocardia represents a non-monophyletic taxon and is thus a ‘wastebasket taxon’, chiefly because its diagnosis was based mainly on plesiomorphic characters. The European species C. kickxi and C. chameformis are placed within Scalaricardita, and the previously proposed genus Crassicardia is monophyletic (including C. crassidens, C. crebricostata, C. isaotakii and C. rjabininae). Three new genera are proposed for new groups identified by the phylogenetic analysis: South American Oesterheldia gen. nov. (including O. cannada and O. dalek), western North American Coanicardita gen. nov. (including C. ventricosa and C. occidentalis), and North Pacific Hippocampocardia gen. nov. (including H. barbarensis, H. hamiltonensis and H. yakatagensis). The newly defined monophyletic Cyclocardia is restricted to the Atlantic Ocean species C. borealis, C. novangliae and C. compressa.     

Uncovering hidden coral diversity: a new cryptic lobophylliid scleractinian from the Indian Ocean

Extant biodiversity can easily be underestimated owing to the presence of cryptic taxa, even among commonly observed species. Scleractinian corals are challenging to identify because of their ecophenotypic variation and morphological plasticity. In addition, molecular analyses have revealed the occurrence of cryptic speciation. Here, we describe a new cryptic lobophylliid genus and species Paraechinophyllia variabilis gen. nov., sp. nov., which is morphologically similar to Echinophyllia aspera and E. orpheensis. The new taxon occurs in Mayotte Island, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Six molecular markers (COI, 12S, ATP6-NAD4, NAD3-NAD5, histone H3 and ITS) and 46 morphological characters at three different levels (macromorphology, micromorphology and microstructure) were examined. The resulting molecular phylogenetic reconstruction showed that Paraechinophyllia gen. nov. represents a distinct group within the Lobophylliidae that diverged from the lineage leading to Echinophyllia and Oxypora in the Early Miocene, approximately 21.5 Ma. The morphological phylogenetic reconstruction clustered Paraechinophyllia gen. nov., Echinophyllia and Oxypora together in a single clade. A sole morphological character, calice relief, discriminated Paraechinophyllia gen. nov. from the latter two genera, suggesting that limited morphological variation has occurred over a long period. These results highlight the importance of cryptic taxa in reef corals, with implications for population genetics, ecological studies and conservation.     

石山苣苔属(苦苣苔科)花形态演化及分类学意义

石山苣苔属(苦苣苔科)约30种,主要分布于我国南部的石灰岩地区.目前该属已知物种数虽少但花形态极其多样,是该科中分类最为困难的类群之一.基于分子证据,其它8个属中花形态迥异的一些物种被并入石山苣苔属.然而,该属花形态的演化趋势缺乏系统性的研究,传统分类对属的界定与分子系统学研究结果相矛盾的原因,以及是否有形态特征支持新界定的石山苣苔属还不清楚.该研究中,总共编码了19种石山苣苔属植物和9种报春苣苔属植物的35个形态特征,其中包括26个花部形态特征,在分子系统树上追踪了它们的演化路径.结果表明:无论属内还是属间,多数花部形态特征,尤其以往属的分类界定特征,在演化过程中变化频繁且发生了高度同塑性演化,这是导致传统形态分类不自然的关键因素.此外,在观察研究的所有特征中,花丝和柱头的差异可能在石山苣苔属植物共同祖先中经历了演变,或可用于区分石山苣苔属与其姐妹报春苣苔属的大多数种类.因此,在苦苣苔科植物的分类学研究中应当慎用这些花部性状作为分类依据,而且应对形态特征进行广泛地观察研究,在密集的取样和分辨率更高、更可靠的系统树上追踪它们的演化规律.更为重要的是,需要进一步研究导致复杂形态性状演化的内在分子调控机理和外在的自然选择动力,最终更加深入地理解石山苣苔属等典型喀斯特植物的演化过程和机理.     

Toward a natural classification: phylogeny of acontiate sea anemones (Cnidaria,Anthozoa, Actiniaria)

Acontia—nematocyst‐dense, thread‐like extensions of the mesenterial filaments―are the characteristic feature of the actiniarian group Acontiaria. Phylogenetic analyses have shown that acontiate taxa form a clade that also includes some taxa without acontia. We analyse five molecular markers from 85 actiniarians to explore the phylogenetic relationships among families in Acontiaria, including acontiate species assigned to other higher taxa and species without acontia that have been allied to Acontiaria. Based on our results, we redefine the group to accommodate those lineages that have lost acontia, and formalize it as superfamily Metridioidea. Based on stable and well supported clades, we resurrect Phelliidae and Amphianthidae, redefine Kadosactinidae and Actinoscyphiidae, and move two species to new genera: that previously termed Sagartiogeton erythraios belongs in Jasonactis gen. nov.; and that previously termed Anthosactis pearseae belongs in Ostiactis gen. nov., type genus of Ostiactinidae fam. nov. We also synonymized Halcampoididae and Halcampidae (as Halcampidae) and Andvakiidae and Isophelliidae (as Andvakiidae). The results of our phylogenetic analyses indicate that the diagnostic morphological characters used in the family‐level taxonomy of acontiate actiniarians such as the nematocysts of the acontia, the marginal sphincter muscle, and mesenteries divisible into macro‐ and micro‐cnemes, have to be revisited, as these features are highly homoplasious.     

On the phylogenetic position and systematics of extant and fossil Aclopinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

The Aclopinae is a small subfamily within the family Scarabaeidae. It currently comprises five extant genera with 28 species, and eight fossil genera with 25 species. The systematic position of Aclopinae within the family Scarabaeidae is uncertain, particularly because representative species of Aclopinae have been absent in previous phylogenetic studies. Here we performed phylogenetic analyses using morphological and molecular data to investigate the phylogenetic position of fossil and extant Aclopinae. For this objective, we expanded and revised a former morphological data matrix (composed of 68 characters) including all extant genera of Aclopinae. We complemented our morphological investigations with a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on four genes of several extant taxa of Aclopinae and a wide sample of diverse Scarabaeoidea. Our phylogenetic analyses show that all the type species of the fossil genera formerly included within Aclopinae do not belong within the extant Aclopinae clade and support both the exclusion of those fossil taxa and the monophyly of the extant genera of Aclopinae: Aclopus Erichson, Desertaclopus Ocampo & Mondaca, Gracilaclopus Ocampo & Mondaca, Neophanaeognatha Allsopp and Phanaeognatha Hope. Our results also show that the fossil taxa Prophaenognatha robusta Bai et al. and Ceafornotensis archratiras Woolley are closely related to Ochodaeidae, while the remaining type species of fossils formerly included in Aclopinae (Cretaclopus longipes (Ponomarenko), Holcorobeus vittatus Nikritin, Juraclopus rodhendorfi Nikolajev, Mesaclopus mongolicus (Nikolajev), and Mongolrobeus zherikhini Nikolajev) belong to a distinct lineage closely related to Diphyllostomatidae. Based on these results, the subfamily Aclopinae appears monophyletic and sister to the ‘pleurostict’ lineage. Consequently, we propose the following changes to the current classification of the fossil taxa: Holcorobeus monreali (Gómez‐Pallerola) belongs to Carabidae (incertae sedis) as proposed by the original author, and we place Ceafornotensis Woolley, Cretaclopus Nikolajev, Holcorobeus Nikritin, Juraclopus Nikolajev, Mesaclopus Nikolajev, Mongolrobeus Nikolajev and Prophaenognatha Bai et al. in Scarabaeoidea (incertae sedis). Furthermore, we provide an identification key to, and diagnoses of, the genera, illustrations of diagnostic characters and checklists of their included species. The evolutionary perspective presented provides new insights into the evolution of the pleurostict condition in Scarabaeoidea and the biogeography of this group, which is now regarded as Gondwanan, probably evolving during the Cretaceous and not from the upper Jurassic as previously assumed.     

Revision and phylogeny of the bee genus Paratetrapedia Moure,with description of a new genus from the Andean Cordillera (Hymenoptera,Apidae, Tapinotaspidini)

The bee genus Paratetrapedia represents a commonly collected group of bees and is especially diverse in forested areas of the Neotropics. Its taxonomy has remained poorly understood because of a lack of modern revisionary work and numerous species described as Tetrapedia whose type specimens have not been re‐examined in recent times. Here, a comprehensive study was carried out to review the taxonomy of the genus Paratetrapedia and to investigate cladistically the relationships amongst its species. Eighteen new species of Paratetrapedia are described, giving a total of 32 species in the genus. A phylogenetic analysis of the species of Paratetrapedia was carried out using 61 morphological characters for 41 terminal taxa. The phylogenetic results confirmed the monophyly of Paratetrapedia and allowed the recognition of five species groups: the lugubris, moesta, bicolor, lineata, and flavipennis groups. Nasutopedia gen. nov. , recognized as the sister group of Paratetrapedia and with its distribution restricted to the western forested portions of the Andean highlands, is proposed based on distinct morphology, its placement in the phylogenetic tree, and biogeographical patterns. Species of Paratetrapedia are especially diverse in the Amazon Forest; the eastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest contains four endemic species, and one species is endemic to the Cerrado of central Brazil. Paratetrapedia shows a biogeographical pattern similar to other Neotropical groups of bees and birds, with wide distribution and high diversity in lowland forests and whose sister taxon occurs on highlands of north‐western portions of the Andean cordillera. Identification keys for males and females of all species are provided, as well as distribution maps and illustrations of general external morphology and genitalia. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 162 , 351–442.     

Integrative taxonomy uncovers hidden species diversity in the rheophilic genus Potamometra (Hemiptera: Gerridae)

The genus Potamometra Bianchi, 1896 represents big rheophilic semi-aquatic bugs that typically inhabit middle-altitude mountainous streams. Here, we integrated molecular and morphological data for delimiting species boundaries and understanding the evolutionary history of the genus Potamometra. Twenty-seven complete mitochondrial genomes of Potamometra were sequenced, with samples representing most of the known geographically distributed locations around the Sichuan Basin. The results of different species delimitation methods (ABGD, bPTP, GMYC and BPP) based on the monolocus or multilocus data strongly supported the existence of two cryptic new species (Potamometra anderseni Zheng, Ye & Bu, sp. nov. and Potamometra zhengi Zheng, Ye & Bu, sp. nov.) although more entities were found in the tree-based delimitation methods. The two new species were successfully validated using morphological characters within a detailed taxonomic framework. Phylogenetic analyses supported the reciprocal monophyly of the seven highly node-supported clades, which were matched with the five known species and two new taxa. A novel gene arrangement pattern that two trnF (trnF1 and trnF2) genes separated by an intergenic spacer (IGS) were found in all the species except the sister group of Potamometra berezowskii Bianchi, 1896 and Potamometra linnavuorii Chen, Nieser & Bu, 2016. This gene rearrangement event could be explained by the tandem duplication and random loss (TDRL) model. Our study emphasized that the combination of molecular sequence data, morphological characters and mitochondrial structural information could improve the accuracy of species delimitation.     

Morphological and molecular taxonomy of a new Daptonema (Nematoda,Xyalidae) with comments on the systematics of some related taxa

A new species of Daptonema is described based upon morphological characters and 18S rRNA sequence. Daptonema matrona sp. nov. was collected in Pina Basin (north‐eastern Brazil). It differs from all other species of the genus by the presence of reduced cephalic setae and straight spicules. These features require an adaptation of the generic diagnosis. Moreover, the females are characterized by intra‐uterine development of the offspring, considered herein as their major autapomorphic feature. Molecular systematic analyses supported Daptonema matrona sp. nov. as a distinct genetic and evolutionary lineage. The data also indicate hypotheses of taxonomic synonymies amongst some related taxa from Xyalidae as well as the paraphyly of Daptonema. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 158 , 1–15.     

Female genital morphology in the secondarily haplogyne spider genus Glenognatha Simon, 1887 (Araneae,Tetragnathidae), with comments on its phylogenetic significance

Female genital morphology of secondarily haplogyne spiders has been poorly studied, hampering the analysis of its possible phylogenetic significance. We conduct a comparative morphological study of 12 species of the secondarily haplogyne spider genus Glenognatha Simon, 1887 using scanning electron microscopy. Representatives of the closely related genera Pachygnatha Sundevall, 1823 and Dyschiriognatha Simon, 1893 were also examined. The female genitalia of Glenognatha, Dyschiriognatha, and Pachygnatha species examined are composed of a spiracle‐shape gonopore, a membranous chamber, a pair of copulatory ducts (CD) leading to spermathecae and a large uterus externus (UE). The most significant variation among Glenognatha species, previously unregistered within Araneoidea, is related with the absence or presence of CD and spermathecae. In addition, several characters as the form and distribution of long stem gland ductules and compartmentalization of the UE may be important for phylogenetic inference at species and generic level. Our results corroborate the close relationship between Dyshiriognatha and Glenognatha. A table with potentially informative female genitalic characters for phylogenetic inference within Glenognatha is provided. Understanding the general structure of the female genitalia in secondarily haplogyne taxa is a crucial step in order to propose characters for phylogenetic inference and to understand its possible functional significance. J. Morphol. 275:1027–1040, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A phylogenetic revision of the true bug genus Heraeus (Hemiptera: Rhyparochromidae: Myodochini), with the description of two new genera and 30 new species

Prior to this study, the genus Heraeus Stål, 1862 included 14 species, all of which are restricted to the Western Hemisphere. Three species are known from the Nearctic Region, nine from the Neotropical Region, and two mainly tropical elements are distributed in both regions. In this contribution, we consider Heraeus cincticornis Stål, 1874 a junior synonym of Heraeus elegans (Walker, 1873), select a lectotype for Heraeus coquilletti Barber, 1914, and neotype for Lygaeus triguttatus Guérin‐Méneville, 1857, and describe 28 new species. In addition, the two new genera, Baranowskiobius gen. nov., to include H. elegans (Baranowskiobius elegans comb. nov.) and two new species, and Paraheraeus gen. nov., to include Heraeus eximius Distant, 1882 (Paraheraeus eximius comb. nov.), are described. Previously described species and new taxa are (re)described and illustrated, including male genitalia. Scanning electron micrographs, general habitus photographs, and distribution maps are included for all species studied. A phylogenetic analysis comprising 46 terminal taxa and 50 morphological characters was performed, and five species groups were hypothesized, including the coquilletti, caliginosus, guttatus, illitus, and plebejus groups. All known species of Heraeus and the new genera are included in the phylogenetic analysis. The type species of the genera Myodocha Latreille, 1807, Orthaea Dallas, 1852, and Paisana Dellapé, 2008 are used as out‐groups.     

Orobothriurus (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) phylogeny,Andean biogeography,and the relative importance of genitalic and somatic characters

Mattoni, C.I., Ochoa, J.A., Ojanguren Affilastro, A.A. & Prendini, L. (2012) Orobothriurus (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) phylogeny, Andean biogeography, and the relative importance of genitalic and somatic characters. —Zoologica Scripta, 41, 160–176. The genus Orobothriurus Maury, 1976 (Bothriuridae Simon, 1880) displays an Andean pattern of distribution, most of its species occurring at high altitudes (over 2000–2500 m to a maximum altitude record of 4910 m) from central Peru to Argentina. The recent discovery of several new species and the uncertain phylogenetic position of Orobothriurus lourencoi Ojanguren Affilastro, 2003, required a reanalysis of Orobothriurus phylogeny. Thirty bothriurid taxa, including all species of Orobothriurus and Pachakutej Ochoa, 2004, were scored for 65 morphological characters and analysed with parsimony under equal and implied weighting. The resulting topology justifies the establishment of a new genus, Rumikiru Ojanguren Affilastro et al., in press , for O. lourencoi and a closely related, new species, Rumikiru atacama Ojanguren Affilastro et al., in press . It also offers new insights about the phylogeny and biogeography of Orobothriurus and related genera. Characters from the male genitalia (i.e. hemispermatophore), comprising approximately 26% of the morphological matrix, were found to be less homoplastic than those from somatic morphology, contradicting suggestions that genitalia are uninformative or potentially misleading in phylogenetic studies.