First phylogeny of predatory flower flies (Diptera, Syrphidae, Syrphinae) using mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S rRNA genes: conflict and congruence with the current tribal classification

Abstract

CladisticsCladistics F o r P e e r R e v i e w TITLE First phylogeny of predatory hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae, Syrphinae) using mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S rRNA genes: conflict and congruence with the current tribal classification. AUTHORS ABSTRACTThe family Syrphidae (Diptera) is traditionally divided into three subfamilies. The aim of this study was to address the monophyly of the tribes within the subfamily Syrphinae (virtually all with predaceous habits), as well as the phylogenetic placement of particular genera using molecular characters. Sequence data from the mitochondrial protein-coding gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and the nuclear 28S ribosomal RNA gene of ninety eight Syrphinae taxa were analysed using optimization alignment to explore phylogenetic relationships among included taxa. Volucella pellucens was used as outgroup, and representatives of the tribe Pipizini (Eristalinae), with similar larval feeding mode, were also included. Congruence of our results with current tribal classification of Syrphinae is discussed. Our results include the tribe Toxomerini resolved as monophyletic but placed in a clade with genera Ocyptamus and Eosalpingogaster. Some genera traditionally placed into Syrphini were resolved outside of this tribe, as sister groups to other tribes or genera. The tribe Bacchini was resolved into several different clades. We recovered Paragini as a monophyletic group, and sister-group of the genus Allobaccha. The present results highlight the need of a reclassification of Syrphinae.

The Relationship between Morphological and Behavioral Mimicry in Hover Flies (Diptera: Syrphidae)

“…The resultant phylogeny included most major syrphid clades (Figure 1). Reassuringly, all species fell within their prospective genera and our tree was largely congruent with other published results that used nuclear loci (Skevington and Yeates 2000;Ståhls et al 2003;Mengual et al 2008). We then tested for a phylogenetic signal in behavioral mimicry and mimetic fidelity (the highest rating given to each species) by comparing the phylogeny based on COI with a null model in which all branches were equal in a likelihood ratio test (see Hossie et al 2013 for more details).…”

A comparative analysis of the evolution of imperfect mimicry

“…Other dimensions of profitability might include evasive flight behaviour, but predation of hover flies by birds takes place largely on flowers 2 . Of course, the predicted evolutionary trajectory for small and large mimics is less obvious if larger-bodied species are rarer than smaller-bodied species 14,16 , but as noted above, there is no consistent evidence that this is the case.…”

“…The resulting phylogeny is largely congruent with other published results that used nuclear loci 23 and contains multiple taxa per genus which acts as a major control for the single mitochondrial marker. Reassuringly, the resulting phylogeny supported monophyly for all genera apart from identifying two paraphyletic genera that have been suggested as such in the literature (Cheilosia 26,27 and Eupeodes…”

“…Previous measures of mimetic fidelity have used human rankings 13 , pigeon responses 10 , pixel mapping 10 , neural networks 13 and multivariate analyses 14 . We employed subjective human rankings of mimetic fidelity (hereafter "fidelity HR ", see Methods) across a range of species which were compared for consistency against a measure derived from a multivariate analysis of trait values MD M Overall, our morphological analysis of 38 syrphid species and 10 hymenopteran model species indicated that there was a clear statistical difference in appearance between the 2 taxa (Syrphidae vs. Hymenoptera) (nested MANOVA: taxon, F 1,427 =797.77, p<0.001; species, F 47,427 =11.03, p<0.001).…”

Revision of Nearctic <i>Dasysyrphus</i> Enderlein (Diptera: Syrphidae)

“…Outgroup taxa were chosen from the subfamily Syrphinae. The species Meligramma guttata (Fallén 1817), M. triangulifera (Zetterstedt 1843) and Fagisyrphus cinctus (Fallén 1817) were used because they were found to be sister taxa to Dasysyrphus (Mengual et al 2008). The remaining seven specimens were chosen due to their hypothesized close relation to Dasysyrphus (Mengual et al 2008).…”