The evolutionary process of bioluminescence and aposematism in cantharoid beetles (Coleoptera: Elateroidea) inferred by the analysis of 18S ribosomal DNA

Taxonomy of the Brazilian firefly Cladodes illigeri (Coleoptera, Lampyridae): morphology and new records

“…The type genus Vesta Laporte, 1833 has south-east Asiatic and south-American distribution, whilst other genera of the subtribe (Cladodes, Ledocas Olivier, 1885, Dodacles Olivier, 1885, and Dryptelytra Laporte, 1833 are exclusively Neotropical. While Asiatic fireflies have recently been studied (Sagegami-Oba et al, 2007;Bocakova et al, 2007), phylogenetic relationships of South-American fireflies are still ambiguous, both at the generic and the species level. This is also true for Cladodes, where the majority of the species is known only from the type specimens.…”

The Terrestrial Bioluminescent Animals of Japan

“…The monophyly of the Lampyridae was supported by recent molecular phylogenetic analyses on the basis of nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA gene sequences (Sagegami-Oba et al, 2007;Bocakova et al, 2007). By contrast, the monophyly was not supported by phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences, where a phengodid genus Rhagophthalmus was placed within the lampyrid clade (Suzuki, 1997;Li et al, 2006;Stanger-Hall et al, 2007).…”

“…Based on a phylogenetic analysis of morphological characters, Branham and Wenzel (2001) recovered rhagophthalmine taxa as being distinct from the Phengodidae and on the basis of this finding, restored the Rhagophthalmidae to family status, thereby removing Rhagophthalmus, Dioptoma, Menghuoius, Mimochotyra, Dodecatoma and Diplocladon from the Phengodidae (Kawashima et al, 2010). Meanwhile, recent molecular phylogenetic analyses suggested sister relationships between the Phengodinae and the Rhagophthalminae (Sagegami- Oba et al, 2007;Bocakova et al, 2007). Here we conservatively regard the Rhagophthalminae as a subfamily of the Phengodidae.…”

“…Lizards, birds and mice quickly learn to associate bioluminescence with a distasteful organism (Underwood et al, 1997;Matthysen, 1999, 2003;Knight et al, 1999). Hence, it has been suggested that their luminescence may be for aposematic display (Lloyd, 1973;Ohba and Hidaka, 2002), akin to the conspicuous coloration of non-luminous cantharoids (Sagegami-Oba et al, 2007). Larval luminescence of lampyrid species seems to be also for aposematic display (Sivinski, 1981;Underwood et al, 1997;De Cock and Matthysen, 2003;Branham and Wenzel, 2003).…”

“…These data suggest that the mechanism of lumines- cence in the Phengodidae is basically the same as the mechanism in the Lampyridae, although the active sites of the enzymes may have different properties. Molecular phylogenetic analyses did not support a sister group relationship between the Lampyridae and the Phengodidae (Sagegami- Oba et al, 2007;Bocakova et al, 2007;Arnoldi et al, 2007), except for a recent mitochondrial genome analysis (Timmermans et al, 2010). Therefore, whether or not the same bioluminescence system has independently evolved in the Lampyridae and the Phengodidae is an open question deserving future studies (Oba, 2009).…”