Analysis of the mite genus Andocaeculus (Acari: Caeculidae) using discrete and landmark data

ANDRÉS OSVALDO PORTA; JAIME PIZARRO ARAYA; MARTÌN JAVIER RAMÌREZ

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 35th Annual Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society and XII Reunión Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografia; 2016

Willy Hennig Society

At the moment, the genus Andocaeculus (Acari: Trombidiformes: Caeculidae) consists of five species:two from Argentina, two from Chile and one from Brazil. As result of a revision of the genus 21 newspecies has been discovered from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Perú and Colombia. A matrix, consisting of126 discrete morphologic characters, 13 landmark shape characters and 10 continuous (landmark derived)size characters, has been elaborated using firsthand data of all the 26 species of the genus. Aphylogenetic analysis was performed on TNT using as outgroup species of the genus Procaeculus (2 spp),Allocaeculus (2 spp.), Neocaeculus (3 spp), Microcaeculus (3 spp.) and Caeculus (3 spp.). The mainresults of this analysis are: 1) The genus is recovered as monophyletic, the sister group is the genusCaeculus. 2) A subgeneric division is proposed based on several synapomorphies: shape and distributionof some setae, morphology of palpus and the shape of aspidosomal and hysterosomal plates . 3) Each oneof the subgenera contains clades of psamophilous species showing different patterns ofprogressive/regressive develope of the eupathidiums (a class of chemoreceptor setae ) on legs 4)Landmark characters are useful to codify the shape of some structures (setae and plates) in thephylogenetic analysis framework.