Apioceridae (Insecta: Diptera): cladistic reappraisal and biogeography

Phylogeny of Asilidae Inferred from Morphological Characters of Imagines (Insecta: Diptera: Brachycera: Asiloidea)

“…Of particular relevance are the studies by Hermann (1912Hermann ( , 1920, Melin (1923), Hardy (1927aHardy ( , 1930Hardy ( , 1944Hardy ( , 1948, Reichardt (1929), Karl (1959), Hull (1962), Martin (1968), Papavero (1973a), and Theodor (1976). Additional morphological studies of other Diptera taxa containing useful information on characters were published by Hennig (1954Hennig ( , 1972Hennig ( , 1973Hennig ( , 1976, Woodley (1989), Sinclair et al (1994), Yeates (1994), and Yeates and Irwin (1996). Many informative character complexes have emerged only during the detailed study of the many robber-fly species represented in the present analysis.…”

“…SIZE OF MESONOTAL SCUTELLUM: (0) small, mesopostnotum visible in dorsal view; (1) large, mesopostnotum not visible in dorsal view (length 5 4; CI 5 0.25; RI 5 0.80). Yeates and Irwin (1996) established that the small scutellum is an autapomorphy of a subordinate taxon of Mydidae. In Asilidae, the scutellum is generally large and the mesopostnotum is not visible in dorsal view (state 1).…”

“…APICAL SCUTELLAR (AP SCTL) SETAE: (0) absent; (1) regular setae only (no macrosetae); (2) macrosetae and regular setae (length 5 31; CI 5 0.06; RI 5 0.58). Hardy (1930) (within Asilidae) and Yeates and Irwin (1996) (within Apioceridae and Mydidae) examined the apical scutellar setae. In Asilidae, there are usually some setae present, e.g., Dioctriinae, Leptogastrinae, Trigonomiminae, and many Brachyrhopalinae (state 1), but the majority of robber flies possess macrosetae as well as regular setae on the apical margin of the scutellum (state 2 RI 5 0.65).…”

“…COXAE AND METKATEPISTERNUM (IN VENTRAL VIEW): (0) metkatepisternum small and not visible between mesothoracic and metathoracic coxae; (1) metkatepisternum large and visible between mesothoracic and metathoracic coxae (length 5 7; CI 5 0.14; RI 5 0.81). Yeates and Irwin (1996) postulated the large metkatepisternum (referred to as metepisternum) as an autapomorphy for a subordinate taxon of Mydidae. In Asilidae, the metkatepisternum is usually small and not visible between the mes-and metathoracic coxae (state 0).…”

“…The sister group to Asilidae is still debated in the Diptera literature and six alternative hypotheses are: (1) Asilidae and Apioceridae are sister taxa (Hull, 1962;Yeates, 1994); (2) either Apioceridae or Mydidae is the sister group to Asilidae (Hennig, 1973); (3) Asilidae and Mydidae form a sister taxon (Wood, 1981); (4) Asilidae is the sister taxon to either Apioceridae and Mydidae or Scenopinidae and Therevidae (Woodley, 1989); (5) Apioceridae and Mydidae form the sister group to Asilidae (Yeates and Irwin, 1996); and (6) Asilidae is the sister taxon to the remaining Asiloidea except Bombyliidae (Yeates, 2002;Bybee et al, 2004). Hermann (1909), in describing the first southern African Apioceridae in the genus Ripidosyrma Hermann, 1909, discussed the relationships of Apioceridae, Asilidae, and Mydidae and concluded that the Asilidae is most closely related to Apiocera Westwood, 1835, i.e., Australian Apioceridae, based on certain characters of the wing venation.…”