Phylogenetic relationships of flesh flies in the subfamily Sarcophaginae based on three mtDNA fragments (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)

Abstract

In an effort to improve our knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships among species and genera of the subfamily Sarcophaginae, we analysed data from three mitochondrial gene fragments. Sequence data for portions of the genes cytochrome oxidase I (COI), cytochrome oxidase II (COII) and dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) were obtained from 43 species of Sarcophagidae representing 15 genera. We used a Bayesian approach to simultaneously choose how best to partition the data and which substitution model to apply to each partition. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood methods. Our results are consistent with monophyly of the subfamily Sarcophaginae (posterior probability 1; bootstrap support 93%), as well as with monophyly of several genera within the Sarcophaginae (including Sarcophaga s.l.; posterior probability 1; bootstrap support 97%). We found support for a sister‐group relationship between Ravinia Robineau‐Desvoidy and Oxysarcodexia Townsend, which has been hypothesised by past authors on the basis of morphological similarities, although this was supported only in the Bayesian analyses (posterior probability 0. 81–0. 98), and for some novel supra‐generic clades. Contrary to a recent morphological hypothesis, we do not find Helicobia Coquillett to be nested within Sarcophaga Meigen; our data suggest, but do not strongly support, a hypothesis that Peckia Robineau‐Desvoidy is the sister group to Sarcophaga.

Molecular phylogeny of the hyperdiverse genusSarcophaga(Diptera: Sarcophagidae), and comparison between algorithms for identification of rogue taxa

“…; Table ) turns the trichotomy of node f (Fig. ) into a dichotomy, leaving subgenus Neobellieria as sister to the remaining Sarcophaga species, which is consistent with other studies that indicate Nearctic taxa as part of the first splits within Sarcophaga (Kutty et al., ; Stamper et al., ). However, as the pruning of IterPCR is accumulative, the pruning event 1+2+3+4+5 also implies the removal of other rogue nodes such as node 160 (Table ) of the Afrotropical species (node AF in Fig.…”

“…Stamper et al. (), using the mitochondrial genes COI , COII and ND4 , presented a phylogeny of the Sarcophaginae including nine Nearctic and five Old World species of Sarcophaga from eight subgenera, all of which were included in the present analyses (although one was pruned as a rogue). Our results are consistent with the monophyly of and species‐level relationships within the subgenera Wohlfahrtiopsis and Neobellieria found by Stamper et al.…”

“…Stamper et al. () combined data from different mitochondrial genes and Piwczyński et al. () used available sequences in GenBank to infer phylogenetic relationships in this subfamily, also providing some insight into the relationships within Sarcophaga .…”

“…Parallel to the recent increase in molecular studies including flesh flies (Kutty et al., ; Stamper et al., ; Singh and Wells, ; Piwczyński et al., ; Wong et al., ), morphological characters continue to provide a substantial amount of information (Giroux and Wheeler, , ; Giroux et al., ; Whitmore et al., ; Buenaventura and Pape, ). However, the remarkable morphological complexity of the male terminalia, which facilitates species‐level identification, also presents a formidable challenge in the homology assessments needed for reconstructing phylogenies and for a consistent subgeneric classification of Sarcophaga .…”

“…Giroux et al., ; Piwczyński et al., ), these faunas have usually been treated separately (i.e. Stamper et al., ; Meiklejohn et al., ), or suffered from lack of data for Afrotropical species (i.e. Piwczyński et al., ).…”