Insights into the systematics of Alluaudinella and allied Aethiopomyia and Ochromusca (Muscidae, Diptera)

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  • Kinga Walczak
  • Pape, Thomas
  • Mfon Ekanem
  • Krzysztof Szpila
  • Andrzej Grzywacz

The muscid genera Alluaudinella Giglio-Tos, 1895, Aethiopomyia Malloch, 1921 and Ochromusca Malloch, 1927 form a monophyletic group supported by immature and adult morphology and a highly specialised snail-feeding strategy of immature stages. In contrast to the undoubted monophyly of the Alluaudinella-Aethiopomyia-Ochromusca clade, previous studies have provided contradictory hypotheses of the subfamiliar position within the Muscidae, and these three genera have been placed in the subfamily Muscinae, Dichaetomyiinae, Phaoniinae and Reinwardtiinae. The systematic position of Alluaudinella, as a representative of Alluaudinella, Aethiopomyia and Ochromusca group, is revised by means of larval morphology, biology and molecular data. Light microscopy (LM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to study the egg and all larval instars of Alluaudinella flavicornis (Macquart, 1855) and a multilocus Sanger sequencing (mS-seq) approach to examine position within Muscidae. Results are inconsistent with the traditional, morphology-based concept of the Alluaudinella-Aethiopomyia-Ochromusca clade as closely related to Dichaetomyia Malloch, 1921, and the phylogenetic analysis revealed no support for inclusion within subfamily Phaoniinae. Larval morphology in Alluaudinella differs significantly from that of Dichaetomyia (and other Phaoniinae), but resembles that of genera nested in Reinwardtiinae. Based on molecular data and larval morphology a transfer of Alluaudinella, Aethiopomyia and Ochromusca to the subfamily Reinwardtiinae is proposed.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftZoologica Scripta
Vol/bind52
Udgave nummer3
Sider (fra-til)279-297
Antal sider19
ISSN0300-3256
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
We would like to express our appreciation to Mr. Nikita Vikhrev (Zoological Museum of Moscow University, Moscow, Russia), Drs. Alessandra Rung, Martin Hauser and Stephen D. Gaimari (California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sacramento, California, USA), Assoc. Profs. Alexey Solodovnikov and Lars Vilhelmsen (Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark) and Prof. Thai Hong Pham (Vietnam National Museum of Nature, Hanoi, Vietnam) for help in obtaining material. This research was supported by the National Science Centre of Poland (grant no. 2019/33/B/NZ8/02316 to AG).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

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