Phylogenetic divergences of the true bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera), with emphasis on the aquatic lineages: the last piece of the aquatic insect jigsaw originated in the Late Permian/Early Triassic

Abstract

Heteroptera are among the most diverse hemimetabolous insects. Seven infraorders have been recognized within this suborder of Hemiptera. Apart from the well-established sister-group relationship between Cimicomorpha and Pentatomomorpha (= Terheteroptera), the two terminal lineages, the relationships among the other five infraorders are still controversial, of which three (Gerromorpha, Nepomorpha and Leptopodomorpha) are intimately connected to aquatic environments. However, the various and often conflicting available phylogeny hypotheses do not offer a clear background for a connection between diversification and palaeoenvironments. In this study, a molecular data set representing 79 taxa and 10 149 homologous sites is used to infer the phylogenetic relationships within Heteroptera. Bayesian inference, maximum-likelihood and maximum parsimony analyses were employed. The results of phylogenetic inferences largely confirm the widely accepted phylogenetic context. Estimation of the divergence time based on the phylogenetic results revealed that Gerromorpha, Nepomorpha and Leptopodomorpha originated successively during the period from the Late Permian to Early Triassic . This timescale is consistent with the origin and radiation time of various aquatic holometabolans. Our results indicate that the aquatic and semi-aquatic true bugs evolved under environmental conditions of high air temperature and humidity in an evolutionary scenario similar to that of the aquatic holometabolans.

Phylogenetic Evidence for Ancient and Persistent Environmental Symbiont Reacquisition in Largidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

“…Because alternative scenarios could explain the evolution of symbiotic complexes in Pentatomomorpha, depending on contradicting phylogenetic relationships of Pyrrhocoroidea (e.g., recent molecular phylogenies infer their closest relatives as Coreoidea and Lygaeoidea [37], Alydidae [38], Coreoidea [39], or Lygaeoidea [40]), we reconstructed a phylogeny of Pyrrhocoroidea to determine the evolutionary history of this lineage and also to allow for testing of concordance among host and symbiont phylogenies. We sought evidence to determine the method of acquisition of Largidae symbionts through experimental rearing, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) microscopy, culturing, and investigation of patterns of symbiont and host phylogenies.…”

Fossil record of stem groups employed in evaluating the chronogram of insects (Arthropoda: Hexapoda)

“…Most previous studies estimating divergence times of insect clades focused on cladogenesis within particular orders, such as Coleoptera20, Diptera21, Lepidoptera22, Neuropterida (=Raphidioptera + Megaloptera + Neuroptera)23, Strepsiptera24, Hymenoptera9, and Hemiptera-Heteroptera25. Two significant works based on transcriptome datasets explored the times of origin for the main clades of Arthropoda1726; these also included divergence dates for winged insects and some insect orders, but with an unsatisfying taxon sampling across the supercohort Polyneoptera.…”

A comparative study of the abdominal trichobothria of Trichophora, with emphasis on Lygaeoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

“…The character polarity of various trichobothrial arrangements is not always clear, but the presence of medioventral trichobothria is considered as a plesiomorphy within Trichophora by several authors (Štys, 1967;Schaefer, 1966aSchaefer, , b, 1975Schaefer, , 1993Schaefer & Wilcox, 1969); furthermore, as pointed out above (4.3), the coding for this character is wrong in the study of Henry (1997a), and the character state exhibited by Coreoidea and Pyrrhocoroidea is also shared by all Lygaeoidea. A monophyletic Pyrrhocoroidea + Coreoidea clade is recovered by some molecular studies (Yuan et al, 2015) and a monophyletic Pyrrhocoroidea + Lygaeoidea clade by others Wang et al, 2016); none of these studies include Idiostoloidea. The support for a monophyletic Coreoidea + Pyrrhocoroidea clade is therefore not particularly strong.…”

“…Because an AT having a recessed bothrium is found not only in Idiostolidae, but also in Pentatomoidea, the group usually considered as the sister group of the rest of Trichophora (Henry, 1997a;Hua et al, 2008;Tian et al, 2011;Yuan et al, 2015;Li et al, 2016Li et al, , 2017Wang et al, 2016), and such bothria are also common in many groups Fig. 5g, enlarged; i -three trichobothria on sternite III of Cymus glandicolor (Cymidae); j -lateral trichobothrium on sternite VI of C. glandicolor; k -posterior two trichobothria on sternite V of Chauliops quaternaria (Malcidae: Chauliopinae); l -lateral trichobothrium on sternite III of Chauliops horizontalis.…”

“…The topology suggested by Yao et al (2012), however, seems unlikely for several reasons (highly polyphyletic Lygaeoidea, Piesmatidae being the sister group of the rest of Trichophora, Rhyparochromidae being the sister group of the rest of Trichophora except for Piesmatidae). Recent molecular studies (Xie et al, 2005;Hua et al, 2008;Tian et al, 2011;Yuan et al, 2015;Li et al, 2016Li et al, , 2017Wang et al, 2016) do not include any species of Idiostoloidea.…”