PHYLOGENETIC AND BIOGEOGRAPHIC STUDIES WITHIN THE NEOTROPICAL ROMALEINAE (ORTHOPTERA, ACRIDOIDEA, ROMALEIDAE)

CONFALONIERI, V.A.; GUZMAN, N.V.; CIGLIANO, M. M.; POCCO, M.E.; SONG, H.

Ilheus

Congreso; 12th International Congress of Orthopterology; 2016

The Orthopterists Society

THE subfamily Romaleinae (Acridoidea,Romaleidae), with the largest and mostcolorful representatives within Acridoidea,comprises 264 species in 69 genera (Eades etal., 2016). This group of grasshoppers isdistributed in the Americas and mostlyrepresented in the Neotropical Region in awide range of habitats. Most of the hypothesesagree on a southamerican tropical origin of thesubfamily (Amedegnato, 1977; Carbonell,1977, 1986). However, inconsistencies withthis hypothesis arise from the idea thatnorthamerican romaleids seem to be moreprimitive than southamerican ones(Amedegnato, 1977; Rowell, 2013). Followingthe current classification adopted by the?Orthoptera Species File? online (OSF, Eades etal., 2016), ten valid tribes are included inRomaleinae. This study aims to reconstruct aphylogeny of the group based on molecularand morphological evidence. We included 75ingroup taxa representing all the tribes ofRomaleinae and 6 outgroups representing thetribes included in Bactrophorinae. Themorphological matrix consisted on charactersfrom external morphology, coloration, externaland internal male genitalia, and morphometriccharacters. Molecular data included fragmentsof three mitochondrial loci [Cytochrome cOxidase subunit 1 (COI) and subunit 2 (COII),and the 16 Subunit of ribosomal RNA (16S)]and one nuclear loci [Histone 3 (H3)].Phylogenetic analyses were performedemploying Bayesian (BA) and maximumparsimony (MP) searching criteria. Weperformed analyses based on eachindependent data set and total evidenceanalyses. We carried out a dispersal?vicarianceanalysis (DIVA) to trace the biogeographicpatterns and analyze the diversificationprocesses that may have occurred within thegroup. We discuss the results of ourphylogenetic analyses and test them againstthe previous classification schemes andpropose a new classification for the group. Weprovide detailed information on conflictivegroups and incongruence among the differentdata sets, pointing out where the focus offuture research needs to be directed. Based onour phylogeny, we also test and discuss thebiogeographic hypotheses postulated for thegroup.