DOI: 10.3897/asp.82.e109995

Authors: Daubian Santos, Guilherme Cunha Ribeiro

Abstract: Abstract Eloeophila Rondani, 1856 and Idioptera Macquart, 1834 are two genera of the family Limoniidae (Diptera) distinguished by the presence of a supernumerary cross-vein m-cu. Although these genera were previously combined, there has been a lack of phylogenetic tests to investigate the evolutionary relationship between them. In this study, we conducted a cladistic analysis that indicates that Idioptera form a clade within Eloeophila, and therefore the two genera should be synonymized under Idioptera. Consequently, 87 species of Eloeophila are transferred to Idioptera.

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DOI: 10.3897/asp.81.e97946

Authors: Zehui Kang, Yuanyuan Xu, Guoquan Wang, Ding Yang, Xiao Zhang

Abstract: Limoniidae, the most speciose family in the superfamily Tipuloidea, consists of four subfamilies and more than 11,000 species. However, mitochondrial (mt) genome sequences, which have been widely used for phylogenetic study, are available for only 11 species across three subfamilies. Thus, a larger variety of mt genome sequences in Limoniidae are required to improve our understanding of tipuloid phylogeny and genomic evolution. Here we present mt genomes of Elephantomyia (Elephantomyia) inulta Alexander, 1938 and Helius (Helius) pluto Alexander, 1932, representing the first mt genomes of the tribe Elephantomyiini (Limoniidae). The two mt genomes are typical circular DNA molecules and show similar gene order, nucleotide composition and codon usage. Standard ATN start and TAR stop codons are present in most protein-coding genes. All transfer RNA (tRNA) genes exhibited the cloverleaf secondary structure typical for metazoans except in tRNASer(AGN), which lacks the dihydrouridine arm. Phylogenetic analyses were performed based on four nucleotide matrixes for the currently sequenced species of Tipuloidea using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods. Four-cluster likelihood mapping was used to study incongruent signals between different topologies. Pediciidae is supported as the earliest lineage in Tipuloidea, and the sister-group relationship between Cylindrotomidae and Tipulidae is also supported, but the monophyly of Limoniidae is not supported. Our study also supports the monophyly of Elephantomyiini (Elephantomyia + Helius), as one of origins of flower-visiting in Limoniidae. Although Elephantomyiini is sister to Limoniinae + Epiphragma (Limnophilinae) in our study, a more precise understanding of its phylogenetic position in Tipuloidea will require additional studies that include a broader species sample.

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DOI: 10.3897/asp.80.e83035

Authors: Daubian Santos, Rodrigo dos Reis Santos, Guilherme Cunha Ribeiro

Abstract: The subgenus Amphineurus (Ramphoneurus Alexander) (Diptera: Limoniidae), a group of craneflies endemic to southern South America, is revised. The previously described species are redescribed and illustrated, along with fifteen new species: A. (R.) alexanderi sp. nov., A. (R.) amorimi sp. nov., A. (R.) anchoralis sp. nov., A. (R.) anfractus sp. nov., A. (R.) billinghami sp. nov., A. (R.) caleuchus sp. nov., A. (R.) deceptus sp. nov., A. (R.) falcatus sp. nov., A. (R.) immaculatus sp. nov., A. (R.) morphyi sp. nov., A. (R.) oosterbroeki sp. nov., A. (R.) podenasi sp. nov., A. (R.) theischingeri sp. nov., A. (R.) triangularis sp. nov., and A. (R.) stigmaticus sp. nov. In addition, A. (R.) fuscifusus Alexander is considered a nomen dubium. A phylogenetic analysis with a broad taxonomic sampling with all valid species of the subgenus A. (Rhamphoneurus Alexander) and species from all the subgenera of Amphineurus Skuse is performed. The broad outgroup sampling used in the study (including taxa from the entire range of distribution of Amphineurus) suggests that the subgenus A. (Rhamphoneurus) is a monophyletic taxon, that its closest relatives are taxa currently distributed in New Zealand, and that Australasian taxa are paraphyletic with respect to the Neotropical Clade.

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