Cladistic analysis of Neurigoninae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with a study of the evolution of the male terminalia and oviscapt in the family

• Grant number: 13/01392-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): April 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): May 12, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal researcher: Dalton de Souza Amorim
• Grantee: Renato Soares Capellari
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Dolichopodidae is one of the most diverse families of Diptera, with more than 7,600 extant species described in some 255 genera. Virtually nothing is known about the phylogenetic relationships between and within the subfamilies, in such a manner a cladistic approach is lacking for their currently delimitation. Neurigoninae is one of the 15 subfamilies of Dolichopodidae, relatively small, with about 3% of the known species, whose Neotropical genera were recently revised. A robust phylogenetic study for the group in a world scale is though still pending. This project intends to perform a cladistic analysis, providing the first hypothesis of phylogenetic relationship between the neurigonine genera at a global scale. Descriptions of new species of Mberu Capellari & Amorim, Neurigona Rondani and Viridigona Naglis will be published. New material of the dolichopodids collected will be properly preserved to generate a tissue library to obtain DNA sequences of suitable for phylogenetic analysis. Finally, genera of all subfamilies will be sampled for the rooting of transformation series of male and female terminalia features, allowing the first broad, cladistic comparative study of male and female terminalia of Dolichopodidae, one of the most complex in Diptera. The understanding of the morphological modifications in the hypopygium and oviscapt throughout the dolichopodid lineages will later enable a consistent usage of this dataset in studies of the phylogenetic relationships between the subfamilies of Dolichopodidae.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CAPELLARI, RENATO SOARES. FAMILY DOLICHOPODIDAE. Zootaxa, v. 4122, n. 1, p. 404-413, JUN 14 2016. Web of Science Citations: 0.

CAPELLARI, R. S. Review of the longipalpus-Group of Chrysotus Meigen (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with Description of Four New Species. Neotropical Entomology, v. 44, n. 1, p. 47-58, FEB 2015. Web of Science Citations: 5.

CAPELLARI, RENATO SOARES. Two new species of Neurigona Rondani from northern and northeastern Brazil (Diptera, Dolichopodidae). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, v. 57, n. 3, p. 253-258, Set. 2013. Web of Science Citations: 1.