The first phylogenetic study of Mesembrinellidae (Diptera: Oestroidea) based on molecular data: clades and congruence with morphological characters

Abstract

The Mesembrinellidae (Diptera: Oestroidea) comprise a small group of strictly Neotropical calyptrate flies, with 36 described species. The group has often been treated as a subfamily of Calliphoridae, but there is growing evidence that it corresponds to a distinct Oestroidea lineage. Internal relationships have so far been addressed based only on morphology, with results lacking resolution and support. This is the first molecular phylogeny for the group, which is based on the analyses of 80 terminal taxa (22 mesembrinellid and 28 outgroup species) and 5 molecular markers (ITS2, 28S, COI, COII and 16S). Maximum‐parsimony, maximum‐likelihood and Bayesian inference methods were used, the latter two with partitioning strategies considering codon position and secondary structure information. Results corroborate the Mesembrinellidae as a monophyletic lineage inside Oestroidea. Three clades were consistently recovered: (1) (Laneella + Mesembrinella patriciae); (2) (Mesembrinella (excluding M. patriciae) + Eumesembrinella); and (3) (Huascaromusca + Giovanella). Re‐examination of the female reproductive tract of M. patriciae revealed a Laneela‐type spermatheca, which corroborates the position of the species recovered in the molecular phylogenetic analyses. Mesembrinella and Huascaromusca are in all cases paraphyletic with regards to Eumesembrinella and Giovanella, respectively. These latter two genera should, thus, be seen as subjective junior synonyms.

Checklist and distribution maps of the blow flies of Venezuela (Diptera, Calliphoridae, Mesembrinellidae)

“…During the last two decades, a division of Calliphoridae into 14 subfamilies has been widely accepted (Rognes 1997, Norris 1999, Kutty et al 2010), even though some of these subfamilies are considered by many authors as independent families. This is the case of Mesembrinellidae (Kutty et al 2010, Singh and Wells 2013, Marinho et al 2016) and Rhiniidae (Kutty et al 2010, Pape et al 2011, Marinho et al 2016), two taxa now widely ranked at the family level. However, not all studies support the same family/subfamily ranks, and Polleninae have been recently proposed as a family based on their phylogenetic position as sister group of Tachinidae (Singh and Wells 2013).…”

“…Mesembrinellidae are a relatively small family of Neotropical blow flies occurring from southern Mexico to northern Argentina (Peris and Mariluis 1984). Three subfamilies of Mesembrinellidae have been proposed (Guimarães 1977) and are widely accepted: Souzalopesiellinae and Laneellinae with a brown, non-metallic abdomen, and Mesembrinellinae with a metallic abdomen (Vargas and Wood 2012, Marinho et al 2016). On the other hand, six subfamilies of Calliphoridae occur in the Neotropics: Calliphorinae, Chrysomyinae, Luciliinae, Melanomyinae, Polleniinae, and Toxotarsinae (Rognes 1991, 1997, Whitworth 2010).…”

Calliphoridae from Chile: Key to the genera and species (Diptera: Oestroidea)

“…Actually, this family includes more than 1,500 species in approximately 150 genera (Pape et al 2011;Velásquez et al 2017). Commonly, is subdivided into 11 subfamilies (Zhang et al 2016); although recently Marinho et al (2017) raised to family rank the subfamily Mesembrinellinae, a small group of strictly Neotropical calyptrate flies, and as a monophyletic lineage inside Oestroidea.…”

The blowflies of the Madeira Archipelago: species diversity, distribution and identification (Diptera, Calliphoridae s. l.)

“…Blowflies in the broad sense (Diptera: Calliphoridae, Mesembrinellidae, Rhiniidae) (Kutty et al 2010, Marinho et al 2016) are conspicuous flies that can be found in both synanthropic and natural ecosystems. Some species exhibit beautiful metallic colours, ranging from green to violet, while others have a more cryptic colouration.…”

“…Recent molecular studies also point to a similar status for the Polleniinae, but this taxon is still treated as a subfamily of Calliphoridae s. str. (e.g., Kutty et al 2010, Singh and Wells 2013, Marinho et al 2016, Zhang et al 2016). Adult blowflies have a wide variety of life habits: some species feed on pollen and nectar, playing a role in pollination (Rognes 1998, Pérez-Bañon et al 2007), while most are usually associated with faeces, animal corpses and other decaying organic matter (Norris 1965, Heath 1982, Rognes 1998).…”