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Abstract The family Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) is a species‐rich group of aculeate wasps that occur worldwide. The higher‐level classification of the family has historically been controversial due, in part, to the extreme sexual dimorphism exhibited by these insects and their morphological similarity to other wasp taxa that also have apterous females. Modern hypotheses on the internal higher classification of Mutillidae have been exclusively based on morphology and, further, they include Myrmosinae as a mutillid subfamily. In contrast, several molecular‐based family‐level studies of Aculeata recovered Myrmosinae as a nonmutillid taxon. To test the validity of these morphology‐based classifications and the phylogenetic placement of the controversial taxon Myrmosinae, a phylogenomic study of Mutillidae was conducted using ultraconserved elements (UCEs). All currently recognized subfamilies and tribes of Mutillidae were represented in this study using 140 ingroup taxa. The maximum likelihood criterion (ML) and the maximum parsimony criterion (MP) were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships within the family and related taxa using an aligned data set of 238,764 characters; the topologies of these respective analyses were largely congruent. The modern higher classification of Mutillidae, based on morphology, is largely congruent with the phylogenomic results of this study at the subfamily level, whereas the tribal classification is poorly supported. The subfamily Myrmosinae was recovered as sister to Sapygidae in the ML analysis and sister to Sapygidae + Pompilidae in the MP analysis; it is consequently raised to the family level, Myrmosidae,stat.nov.The two constituent tribes of Myrmosidae are raised to the subfamily level, Kudakrumiinae,stat.nov., and Myrmosinae,stat.nov.All four recognized tribes of Mutillinae were found to be non‐monophyletic; three additional mutilline clades were recovered in addition to Ctenotillini, Mutillini, Smicromyrmini, and Trogaspidiini sensu stricto. Three new tribes are erected for members of these clades: Pristomutillini Waldren,trib.nov., Psammothermini Waldren,trib.nov., and Zeugomutillini Waldren,trib.nov.All three recognized tribes of Sphaeropthalminae were found to be non‐monophyletic; six additional sphaeropthalmine clades were recovered in addition to Dasymutillini, Pseudomethocini, and Sphaeropthalmini sensu stricto. The subtribe Ephutina of Mutillinae: Mutillini was found to be polyphyletic, with theEphutagenus‐group recovered within Sphaeropthalminae and theOdontomutillagenus‐group recovered as sister to Myrmillinae + Mutillinae. Consequently, the subtribe Ephutina is transferred from Mutillinae: Mutillini and is raised to a tribe within Sphaeropthalminae, Ephutini,stat.nov.Further, the taxon Odontomutillinae,stat.nov., is raised from a synonym of Ephutina to the subfamily level. The sphaeropthalmine tribe Pseudomethocini was found to be polyphyletic, with the subtribe Euspinoliina recovered as a separate clade in Sphaeropthalminae; consequently, Euspinoliina is raised to a tribe, Euspinoliini,stat.nov., in Sphaeropthalminae. The dasylabrine tribe Apteromutillini was recovered within Dasylabrini and is proposed as a new synonym of Dasylabrinae. Finally, dating analyses were conducted to infer the ages of the Pompiloidea families (Mutillidae, Myrmosidae, Pompilidae, and Sapygidae) and the ages of the Mutillidae subfamilies and tribes.
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Untangling the assassin's web: Phylogeny and classification of the spider‐associated Emesine complex (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)
Abstract Web‐building spiders are formidable predators, yet assassin bugs in the Emesine Complex (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae, Saicinae, and Visayanocorinae) prey on spiders. The Emesine Complex comprises >1000 species and these web‐associated predatory strategies may have driven their diversification. However, lack of natural history data and a robust phylogenetic framework currently preclude tests of this hypothesis. We combine Sanger (207 taxa, 3865 bp) and high‐throughput sequencing data (15 taxa, 381 loci) to generate the first taxon‐ and data‐rich phylogeny for this group. We discover rampant paraphyly among subfamilies and tribes, necessitating revisions to the classification. We use ancestral character state reconstructions for 40 morphological characters to identify diagnostic features for a revised classification. Our new classification treats Saicinae Stål and Visayanocorinae Miller as junior synonyms of Emesinae Amyot and Serville, synonymizes the emesine tribes Ploiariolini Van Duzee and Metapterini Stål with Emesini Amyot and Serville, and recognises six tribes within Emesinae (Collartidini Wygodzinsky, Emesini, Leistarchini Stål, Oncerotrachelinitrib.n., Saicini Stålstat.n., and Visayanocorini Millerstat.n.). We show that a pretarsal structure putatively involved in web‐associated behaviours evolved in the last common ancestor of Emesini, the most species‐rich clade within Emesinae, suggesting that web‐associations could be widespread in Emesinae.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1655769
- PAR ID:
- 10423802
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Systematic Entomology
- Volume:
- 49
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0307-6970
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 1-14
- Size(s):
- p. 1-14
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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