Cladistics of the assasin bug genus Melanolestes Stål (Heteroptera: Reduviidae).

COSCARON, M.C.; MORRONE, J.J.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

ENTOMOL SOC WASHINGTON

Lugar: Washington; Año: 1997 p. 55 - 59

0013-8797

Melanolestes Stål is a monophyletic genus of nine species, two Nearctic and seven Neotropical. A cladistic analysis of the genus was carried out using 28 characters. The cladograms were rooted with the genus Peirates Serville. The analysis yielded 20 equally parsimonious cladograms, with 34 steps, CI = 0.52, and RI = 0.44. A siccessive weighting procedure resulted in one cladogram with 77 steps, CI = 0.84, and RI = 0.87. The distribution of Melanolestes coincides in part with a previous study on Peiratinae, that showed that the vormer continuous Amazonian forest was separated into two parts by a diagonal line of open areas. In addition, the two Nearctic species M. picicornis and M. picipes are sister-taxa, so a single dispersal event accounts for the presence of Melanolestes in the Nearctic.