Evolution and historical biogeography of the net-tube caddisflies Xiphocentronidae and Psychomyiidae (Trichoptera: Annulipalpia: Psychomyiioidea)

• Grant number: 23/01142-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Silvio Shigueo Nihei
• Grantee: Albane Vilarino Santos da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/19456-9 - Evolution and Biogeography of Xiphocentronidae Ross, 1949 (Trichoptera: Psychomyioidea), BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Xiphocentronidae (200 spp., 8 genera) and Psychomyiidae (~600 spp., 8 extant genera) are closely related families of aquatic insects (Trichoptera), which clades diverged during the early Cretaceous when the mean global temperature was 10ºC warmer than today. Currently these families are distributed in freshwater ecosystems around the world. The Xiphocentronidae are mostly restricted to the tropical zone, while the Psychomyiidae were able to diversify in temperate climates, occurring in all the biogeographical regions except the Neotropics. Previous molecular phylogenies including few representatives of these families often reinforce their position as sister clades. However, morphological phylogenetic analysis of 168 characters from a diverse taxonomic sample placed Xiphocentronidae within Psychomyiidae, also indicating the polyphyly of the new world genus, Xiphocentron (58 spp.), whose Nearctic representatives appeared closely related to Oriental genera. Therefore, this project has as the main goal to build a more robust phylogenetic hypothesis and clarify these questions, using molecular data (COI, CAD, 28s genes regions) together with the morphological database (total evidence analysis), and inferring the divergence times through bayesian tip-dating. Additionally, the ancestral areas and past dispersal and vicariant events of these groups will be inferred through parametric biographical analysis in BioGeoBEARS, aiming to: test the association between periods of global warming and migration events of thermophilic taxa between Eurasia and America; and test the significance of a route via Great Antilles in the dispersal of Trichoptera between Mesoamerica and South America during the Oligocene, before the shallowing of the Central America seaway.