Systematics of the Protohermes parcus species group (Megaloptera: Corydalidae), with notes on its phylogeny and biogeography

Abstract

A species group, the Protohermes parcus group of the dobsonfly genus Protohermes, is proposed by the unique male genitalic structures. Five species belonging to the proposed species group from China and Nepal are described and illustrated, including three species new to science. A cladistic analysis is conducted to reconstruct the interspecific phylogeny within the proposed species group based on the morphological data. The biogeography of the proposed species group is also discussed.

Keywords:

• Corydalinae
• Protohermes
• new species
• phylogeny
• China
• Nepal

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr M. Owada (Tokyo) for loaning many megalopteran specimens deposited in the National Science Museum, Tokyo. We are much indebted to Dr H.B. Liang (Beijing) for his kind help during the first author's survey to western Yunnan. We also thank the anonymous reviewer for proofreading our manuscript. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30370174).