Phylogeny of Heteronychia: the largest lineage of Sarcophaga (Diptera: Sarcophagidae). (29th October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Whitmore, Daniel; Pape, Thomas; Cerretti, Pierfilippo
• Is Part Of: Zoological journal of the Linnean Society. Volume 169:Number 3(2013:Nov.)
• Page Start: 604
• Page End: 639
• Publication Date: 2013-10-29
• Subjects: character analysis -- cladistics -- flesh flies -- male terminalia -- morphology -- Palaearctic -- terminology; Zoology -- Periodicals; 590
• DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12070
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0024-4082

Abstract

Abstract : Sarcophaga Meigen is one of the megadiverse genera of true flies, with approximately 850 valid species worldwide. The genus is divided into about 160 subgenera, the validity of a vast majority of which has never been verified using cladistic methods. This paper deals with the mainly Palaearctic subgenus Heteronychia Brauer & Bergenstamm, which comprises 89 species and is thus the largest subunit of Sarcophaga . We performed a cladistic analysis of the group based exclusively on male morphological characters. Parsimony analyses were run on a matrix of 84 characters for 88 species. Species of the subgenera Discachaeta Enderlein and Notoecus Stein were also included in the matrix. A further analysis was carried out using a subset of characters from the terminalia alone (70 characters). The results show that the clade formed by Heteronychia, Discachaeta, and Notoecus is monophyletic, with Discachaeta emerging as polyphyletic whereas Sarcophaga ( Notoecus ) longestylata Strobl is nested within the Sarcophaga filia ‐group. Character states supporting Heteronychia and the few well‐supported species‐groups are discussed in detail. The following synonymies are proposed: Discachaeta = Heteronychia (syn. nov. ) and Notoecus = Heteronychia (syn. nov. ). The paper also includes a historical background of the taxon in relation to the classification of the genus Sarcophaga over the past two centuries, as well as a terminological review of the male terminalia, particularly of the distiphallus. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London