Review of the subgenus Euschistus Dallas in South America, with enphasis on the phylogeny and classification of heros group

• Grant number: 23/17701-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Carlos José Einicker Lamas
• Grantee: Alexandre Martiniano Miranda
• Host Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Carpocorini tribe is the most diverse of the Pentatominae subfamily, with more than 450species distributed in 100 genera. The genus Euschistus Dallas, 1851, stands out for being themost diverse genus of the tribe, with 67 species, and for presenting species associated with extensive damage to important monocultures, such as Euschistus servus (Say, 1832) in cotton, corn and soybeans in the Nearctic region and Euschistus heros (Fabricius, 1798) in cotton and soybeans in the Neotropical region. Studies on the phylogenetic relationships of the genus have expanded knowledge about its taxonomy and diversity, however, definitive conclusions about the classification of the genus into three subgenera and of monophyly of the subgenus Euschistus (Euschistus) are not possible. The nominal subgenus is distributed throughout the American continent, with 54 species. However, the nominal subgenus presents a deficient morphological delimitation, since the characters proposed in the literature do not define unique and diagnostic characteristics of the group. In South America, there are 16 species of the nominal subgenus, which require a taxonomic treatment based on current information and approaches, as only Euschistus taurulus Berg, 1878 has been recently reviewed. Among the South American species of nominal subgenus stands out E. heros, the main soybean pest in the neotropical region. E. heros is associated with five other South American species in the literature, forming the heros group. However, the monophyly of the heros group has never been tested by phylogenetic analyses. In this study, the taxonomy of South American species of the nominal subgenus will be reviewed and the classification of the genus Euschistus Dallas will be tested, with emphasis on the species relationship included in the heros group.