Phylogeny of Neotropical Chrysomyinae (Insecta, Diptera, Oestroidea) with emphasis on the immature stage

• Grant number: 25/07685-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: July 21, 2025
• End date: December 20, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Applied Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Patricia Jacqueline Thyssen
• Grantee: Aline Marrara Do Prado
• Supervisor: Andrzej Grzywacz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/04986-0 - Morphological characterization and keys to immature forms, and phylogeny of neotropical Chrysomyinae species (Insecta, Diptera, Calliphoridae) of forensic importance, BP.DR

Abstract

Of the more than 1,500 known blowfly species (Diptera, Oestroidea, Calliphoridae), at least 70 have been recorded in the Neotropics. Most of these species are necrophagous, commonly associated with decaying corpses. In the forensic field, correct species identification is essential for reliable access to biological information, which may help to estimate the time of death. New approaches to elucidate taxonomic and phylogenetic aspects have been widely used for Calliphoridae. However, the monophyly of the family has still been questioned, especially within the Chrysomyinae clade, whose Neotropical representatives are also notably undersampled. Thus, this study proposes for the first time the construction of phylogenetic hypotheses of Neotropical Chrysomyinae based on morphological characters of third-instar larvae, molecular data (COI and ITS2 genes), and both data concatenated. Phylogenetic relationships will be tested using Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood, and Bayesian Inference methods. This study is expected to contribute to clarifying the kinship relationships of Chrysomyinae and bring new perspectives to expand studies based on the immature stages of Diptera.