Systematic position of Dinidoridae within the superfamily Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) revealed by the Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial 12S and 16S rDNA sequences

Abstract

Mitochondrial 12S and 16S rDNA sequences of five species of Dinidoridae Stål, 1868, a largely Paleotropical family, and 16 other shield bugs (Pentatomoidea) were studied. This was the first molecular examination of the systematic position of this family within the superfamily Pentatomoidea using more than a single dinidorid species. Phylogenetic trees obtained from the Bayesian inference of 12S and 16S sequences of these mitochondrial DNA, identified Dinidoridae as the monophylum and a sister group to the Tessaratomidae. Moreover, results of the study suggested a close molecular affinity of the genus Eumenotes to representatives of the subfamily Dinidorinae, which contradicts all previous morphological analyses that placed it within the subfamily Megymeninae. We suggest restoring taxonomic status of the tribe Eumenotini and removing it from the synonymy of Megymenini, leaving the genus with no subfamilial assignment for the moment.

Presence of uradenia in male adults of the genus Dismegistus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Parastrachiidae)

“…Moreover, these morphological characters are same as in species of the subfamily Sehirinae (LIS & HEYNA 2001;LIS 2010a,b). A similarity of Dismegistus and Parastrachia to the species of Sehirinae was confi rmed also in the molecular study based on the nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences (LIS et al 2017).…”

“…The female of Dismegistus as well as both sexes of Parastrachia, the second genus of Parastrachiidae, do not possess these glands. We are also confi dent that the majority of the pentatomoid families do not possess uradenia, in particular the Cydnidae and Thyreocoridae, considered to be related to Parastrachiidae (GRAZIA et al 2008, LIS et al 2017. This opinion is based on the results of previous studies, where numerous species of Cydnidae and Thyreocoridae were examined (PLUOT-SI- GWALT & LIS 2008, as well as results of an unpublished survey devoted to a novel exocrine gland specifi c to most Pentatomoidea and absent in Dismegistus (PLUOT-SIGWALT, in preparation).…”

“…On some morphological differences between Dismegistus and Parastrachia. Though Dismegistus and Parastrachia were suggested by GRAZIA et al (2008) as a monophyletic group, and a close relationship between the two genera was also suggested by PLUOT-SIGWALT & LIS (2008), on the basis of similarities in the structure of the spermatheca, their monophyletic origin was not confi rmed recently in results of studies on the 18S+28S rDNA of pentatomoid bugs (LIS et al 2017).…”

“…Therefore, the discovery in adult males of the genus Dismegistus Amyot & Serville, 1843, of a paired abdominal gland exhibiting morphological characteristics of the uradenia previously described within other trichophoran subfamilies, was unexpected. It is interesting especially because the phylogenetic position of Dismegistus within Pentatomoidea has been a matter of debate for a long time and still remains somewhat enigmatic (LIS et al 2017).…”

Biology, morphology and DNA barcodes of Tessaratoma javanica (Thunberg) (Hemiptera: Tessaratomidae)

“…Tessaratoma species show a high degree of similarity in appearance, particularly in these immature stages and making species differentiation difficult. So far there are only few molecular studies like those of Lis et al (2012) on the relationship between Tessaratomidae and Dinidoridae, and Song et al (2013) who sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of the tessaratomid Eusthenes cupreus (Westwood). The present study provides the mtCOI sequences as molecular identification tools for all life stages of T. javanica and incidentally adds to the molecular data of the Tessaratomidae.…”