The female postabdomen of the enigmatic Nannochoristidae (Insecta: Mecopterida) and its phylogenetic significance

Hünefeld, F. and Beutel, R.G. 2011. The female postabdomen of the enigmatic Nannochoristidae (Insecta: Mecopterida) and its phylogenetic significance. —Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 00: 1–8. External and internal features of the female postabdomen of Nannochorista neotropica are described in detail. The conditions found in females of Nannochoristidae come closest to the ground plan of Mecopterida. This lineage is characterised by telescoping postabdominal segments, a presumptive autapomorphic feature that is modified in some antliophoran groups, but displayed by the nannochoristid species in a typical manner. More potential autapomorphies of Mecopterida, all present in Nannochoristidae, are the neo‐formation of an intersegmental muscle, a transverse muscle spanning between the genital appendages of segment VIII, a muscle connecting these appendages and the genital chamber and the loss of an intersegmental muscle. Plesiomorphic features of Nannochoristidae are the presence of paired genital appendages on segments VIII and IX. Information on the egg‐depositing substrates of the females is not available. The telescoping postabdomen is suitable for oviposition in soft substrates such as moist soil, or rotten plant materials in the riparian zone, and this is possibly a ground‐plan feature of Mecopterida. The results of recent phylogenetic analyses based on morphological data support a placement of Nannochoristidae in Antliophora, whereas the exact position of the group remains ambiguous. No characters of the female postabdomen were found supporting the monophyly of Mecoptera as conventionally circumscribed, that is Nannochoristidae + Boreidae + Pistillifera.