Phylogeny of Callibaetis (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) based on morphology of nymphs and adults

Abstract

Callibaetis is considered to be one of the most problematic genera among mayflies by a series of taxonomic inaccuracies that have accumulated over the last two centuries. Despite these taxonomic problems, two independent hypotheses of species groups have been proposed. In the first hypothesis, three species groups for North America were proposed, and in the second, three species groups were proposed for South American. In these hypotheses, the generic delimitation and monophyly of Callibaetis have not been evaluated under a cladistic framework. Taking this into account, the objectives of this study were to verify the monophyly of Callibaetis and whether the groups of species proposed for the genus are corroborated as natural. The matrix included 128 morphological characters and one habitat character, 119 discrete characters were compiled (101 of nymphs and 18 of adults), and six imaginal characters are related to pigmentation pattern. Continuous characters were ratios and were represented by 10 characters (nine for nymphs and one for adults). The data set was analysed under implied weights. Group support was estimated with relative Bremer support and frequency differences. The results corroborated the monophyletic nature of Callibaetis and the generic status of Callibaetoides; however, the groups proposed for North and South American Callibaetis species were not corroborated. Our study indicated four groups of species for the genus, which we proposed as subgenera: Callibaetis, Abaetetuba subgen. n. Aiso subgen. n. and Cunhaporanga subgen. n.

A cladistic insight into the higher level classification of Baetidae (Insecta: Ephemeroptera)

“…The close relationship of these genera was also recovered by Cruz et al . (2016), and proposed by Kluge (2019) and Jacobus & Wiersema (2014). The inclusion of Callibaetis and C. elongatum in Baetinae (as well some species of Cloeodes ) expands the concept of Baetinae to include those taxa that have secondarily lost one of the paired intercalary veins (in these taxa, as mentioned previously, the position of this vein is lateral and not central as in Cloeoninae).…”

Do mayflies (Ephemeroptera) support a biogeographic transition zone in South America?

“…Neotropical mayflies occupy the Neotropical region and the wet portion of the South American Transition Zone (STZ). An essential portion of the STZ (the southernmost) overlaps with an arid stripe, the Arid Diagonal (Bruniard, 1982), that would be acting as a barrier for (Nieto, 2016) Baetodes huaico UC 11 Marginal Monte NT, NC (Nieto, 2016) Baetodes levis UC 7 Marginal Paramo NT, NC (Nieto, 2016) Baetodes pehuenche UC 13 Endemic Monte NT, NC (Nieto, 2016) Baetodes spinae UC 7 Marginal Paramo NT, NC (Nieto, 2016) Baetodes traverae UC 2 Endemic Desert NT, NC (Nieto, 2016) Caenis dominguezi UC11 Marginal Monte NT (Malzacher, 2001) Caenis gonseri UC13 Marginal Monte NT (Malzacher, 2001) Caenis ludicra UC11 Marginal Puna NT (Malzacher, 2001) Callibaetis jocosus UC8 Marginal Cuyan High Andean NT (Cruz, Salles, & Hamada, 2017) Camelobaetidius edmundsi (Pescador & Peters, 1986) Mayobaetis ellenae UC 12 Marginal Paramo NT, NC (Nieto, 2016) Meridialaris laminata UC 13 Marginal Monte P (Pescador & Peters, 1986) Meridialaris tintinnabula UC 11 Marginal Monte P (Pescador & Peters, 1986) Nanomis galera UC 12 Marginal Puna NT (Nieto, 2010) Prebaetodes sitesi UC 7 Marginal Paramo NT, NC (Nieto, 2016) Thraulodes trijunctus et al, 1998). This massif is one of the various small Precambrian cratons constituting the South American platform, actually including the Pampean mountain ranges in NW Argentina.…”

A cladistic approach for generic delimitation of Paracloeodes Day, Rivudiva Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty, and Varipes Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae)

“…All species of Adebrotus and Waltzoyphius were included: A. amazonicus Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty (type-species of the genus), A. lugoi Salles, W. fasciatus Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty (type-species of the genus), and W. roberti Thomas & Peru. Cruz et al (2017) recovered Callibaetoides caaigua Cruz, Salles & Hamada (type-species of the genus) as a sister group of the genus Callibaetis Eaton, thus we decided to include Callibaetoides in the analysis.…”

“…The cladistic study of the genus Callibaetis (Cruz et al 2017) recovered four groups of species, treated as subgenera. One species of each subgenus was included in the analyses, all selected based on type specimens availability, plus the type-species of the genus: C. The genus Apobaetis has not been analyzed in a cladistics framework.…”