DOI: 10.3897/asp.84.e157646

Authors: Lucas Quevedo, Renato S. Capellari, Carlos José E. Lamas

Abstract: Understanding the biogeographic patterns that explain species distribution in the Americas is a long and challenging endeavor. Insects represent a potentially promising group for these kinds of investigations, but deficits in basic taxonomic and systematic knowledge hinder the development of many studies. In this context, a cladistic analysis of the Pan-American genus Achradocera Becker (Diptera: Dolichopodidae: Diaphorinae) was conducted using a morphology-based matrix comprising 54 characters and 18 terminal taxa, including all 12 known species of the genus and six outgroup taxa. The analysis yielded two topologies under equal weighting and one under implied weighting of characters. Achradocera was recovered as monophyletic, and two species groups are proposed: the barbata group (Nearctic: A. barbata and A. arcuata) and the femoralis group (Neotropical: A. excavata, A. femoralis, A. meridionalis, and A. tuberculata). Biogeographic analyses were performed using the Geographically Explicit Event Model (GEM) method, which identified vicariance as the primary driver of speciation events in Achradocera, with founder events playing a secondary role. The results provide insights into the patterns that may explain the evolutionary history of the genus across the Americas, and potentially contributing to the understanding of patterns observed in other taxa with similar distributions, while also fostering discussions that can be integrated into broader frameworks, such as insect biogeography and studies of other taxa.

HTML

XML

PDF