Phylogeny of pentatomomorphan bugs (Hemiptera-Heteroptera: Pentatomomorpha) based on six Hox gene fragments

Abstract

Pentatomomorpha is one of the most diversified infraorders of the true bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera). The phylogenetic relationships among superfamilies within this infraorder are still in dispute. In this study, 31 species representing 26 pentatomomorphan and four cimicomorphan putative families were chosen, and six Hox gene fragments with as many as 4 kilobases for each representative were analyzed to reconstruct the phylogeny of the Pentatomomorpha. The (Homeotic) Hox gene family is a group of nuclear genes, which is considered to determine animal segmentation. The combined nucleotide and amino acid sequences were used separately as two data matrices, and analyzed by employing maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Results strongly support the monophyly of Trichophora and the superfamilies Pentatomoidea, Lygaeoidea, Coreoidea, and Pyrrhocoroidea. The relationship of (Aradoidea + (Pentatomoidea + (Lygaeoidea + (Coreoidea + Pyrrhocoroidea)))) was mostly congruent with previous results based on the morphological data. Our results suggested that the Hox genes could be used as novel molecular markers for phylogenetic research on the Pentatomomorpha and other insects.

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

“…Schuh and Slater, ) and conflicts with the opinion of Sweet (, ) who excluded Aradidae from Pentatomomorpha and recognized a sister‐group relationship between Leptopodomorpha + Pentatomomorpha (without Aradidae). At the same time it also offers strong support for the monophyly of Trichophora in accordance with the broadly held views of previous authors (Štys and Kerzhner, ; Schaefer, ; Hua et al., ; Tian et al., ; Yao et al., ).…”

Comparative mitogenomic analysis of the superfamily Pentatomoidea (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) and phylogenetic implications

“…The clades have previously been established in Pentatomomorpha as monophyletic groups. Incongruent phylogenetic relationships within Eutrichophora (Pyrrhocoroidea, Lygaeoidea, and Coreoidea) have been frequently observed in other molecular studies [13, 40, 43, 46]. Pyrrhocoroidea and Coreoidea are consistently recovered as sister, except in a BI analysis of PCG123RT, and this is congruent with traditional taxonomic hypotheses based on morphology [14] and other molecular phylogenetic studies [24, 43, 46].…”

Phylogenomic analysis suggests Coreidae and Alydidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) are not monophyletic

“…The monophyly of the Coreoidea has largely been supported by previous phylogenetic studies (Table ), although, as in our case, most have not included Stenocephalidae and Hyocephalidae. That we strongly recovered monophyly of Coreoidea suggests that in those cases where monophyly has not been supported, it may be due to limited power (too few characters), loci selected (e.g., leading to gene trees that may not have matched the species tree or with little power to resolve short internodes), sequence quality, or analytical approaches employed (Li et al, ; Xie, Bu, & Zheng, ; Weirauch et al, ; see Tian et al () for explanation of issues in some previous analyses). As putative sister group sampling increases, previous hypotheses on morphological apomorphies for Coreoidea, such as those proposed by Li (; excluding Stenocephalidae and Hyocephalidae) and Henry (), can be better evaluated.…”