A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae)

Abstract

Tiger beetles are a remarkable group that captivates amateur entomologists, taxonomists and evolutionary biologists alike. This diverse clade of beetles comprises about 2300 currently described species found across the globe. Despite the charisma and scientific interest of this lineage, remarkably few studies have examined its phylogenetic relationships with large taxon sampling. Prior phylogenetic studies have focused on relationships within cicindeline tribes or genera, and none of the studies have included sufficient taxon sampling to conclusively examine broad species patterns across the entire subfamily. Studies that have attempted to reconstruct higher-level relationships of Cicindelinae have yielded conflicting results. Here, we present the first taxonomically comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Cicindelinae to date, with the goal of creating a framework for future studies focusing on this important insect lineage. We utilized all available published molecular data, generating a final concatenated dataset including 328 cicindeline species, with molecular data sampled from six protein-coding gene fragments and three ribosomal gene fragments. Our maximum-likelihood phylogenetic inferences recover Cicindelinae as sister to the wrinkled bark beetles of the subfamily Rhysodinae. This new phylogenetic hypothesis for Cicindelinae contradicts our current understanding of tiger beetle phylogenetic relationships, with several tribes, subtribes and genera being inferred as paraphyletic. Most notably, the tribe Manticorini is recovered nested within Platychilini including the genera Amblycheila Say, Omus Eschscholtz, Picnochile Motschulsky and Platychile Macleay. The tribe Megacephalini is recovered as paraphyletic due to the placement of the monophyletic subtribe Oxycheilina as sister to Cicindelini, whereas the monophyletic Megacephalina is inferred as sister to Oxycheilina, Cicindelini and Collyridini. The tribe Collyridini is paraphyletic with the subtribes Collyridina and Tricondylina in one clade, and Ctenostomina in a second one. The tribe Cicindelini is recovered as monophyletic although several genera are inferred as para-or polyphyletic. Our results provide a novel phylogenetic framework to revise the classification of tiger beetles and to encourage the generation of focused molecular datasets that will permit investigation of the evolutionary history of this lineage through space and time.

The morphological evolution of the Adephaga (Coleoptera)

“…However, results of this study, such as monophyletic 'Hydradephaga' or a clade Trachypachidae + 'Cicindelidae', are in conflict with recent phylogenies, e.g. Baca et al (2017a) or Gough et al (2019). Therefore, the information content of the data used, as well as the interpretations of the authors, should be taken with some caution.…”

“…() or Gough et al . (). Therefore, the information content of the data used, as well as the interpretations of the authors, should be taken with some caution.…”

“…In contrast to the aquatic groups, published analyses of molecular datasets suffer from limited taxon sampling (e.g. Ober, 2002;Ribera et al, 2005;Ober & Maddison, 2008;Maddison et al, 2009Maddison et al, , 2019Gough et al, 2019), and consequently different phylogenetic issues remain unclarified, such as the placement of the enigmatic monospecific Cicindini (Stork, 1982;Erwin & Aschero, 2004) and Nototylini (Deuve, 1994). Autapomorphies of the family are the characteristic fine pubescence on antennomeres four to 11 of adults (or three to 11 in Harpalini) (char.…”

“…The genus Amblycheila, with large, black, flightless and strongly sclerotized species (Krell & Brookhart, 2012), belongs to Manticorini, which is probably the sister-group of the remaining Cicindelinae (Gough et al, 2019). Interestingly, species of the genus Omus are also characterized by a distinctly modified pterothorax and obligatory flightlessness.…”

Novelty and emergent patterns in sperm: morphological diversity and evolution of spermatozoa and sperm conjugation in ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

“…The tree’s shape is predominately derived from large-scale molecular studies of ground beetle phylogeny (Maddison etal., 1999; 2009; Ober, 2002; Ober and Maddison, 2008). Additional molecular phylogenetic studies provided support for relationships in the following clades: Carabinae (Osawa et al, 2004), Cicindelinae (Vogler and Pearson, 1996; Gough et al, 2018), Harpalini (Martinez-Navarro et al, 2005), Paussinae (Moore, 2008; Robertson and Moore, 2016), Pterostichini and allies (Will and Gill, 2008), and Trechinae (Maddison and Ober, 2011; Maddison et al, 2019).…”