Taxonomy and cladistic analysis of the subgenus Xenomorellia Malloch (Diptera: Muscidae: Morellia Robineau-Desvoidy) with description of two new species

Abstract

Xenomorellia Malloch, a subgenus of Morellia Robineau-Desvoidy, is revised to include two new species, Morellia (Xenomorellia) inca Nihei and Carvalho sp. nov. from South America, and M. (X.) maia Carvalho and Nihei sp. nov. from Costa Rica and Mexico. Diagnoses for M. (X.) holti (Malloch) and M. (X.) montanhesa (Albuquerque) are provided, as well as an identification key to the four species of the subgenus. A cladistic analysis was performed to test the monophyly of Xenomorellia and to recover the phylogenetic relationships among its species. Tree searches resulted in one single most-parsimonious cladogram, wherein the monophyly of Xenomorellia is supported, as well as a sister-group relationship with the Neotropical subgenus Trichomorellia Stein. Xenomorellia was divided into two clades: one with Caribbean–Andean species (maia + inca), and another with species from southeastern South America (holti + montanhesa).

Keywords:

• identification key
• Neotropical region
• phylogeny
• systematics

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Jaime I. Rodriguez-Fernandez (Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal do Paraná) who kindly brought on loan the specimens from the Bolivian collection making their examination possible. We also thank our fellow curators who loaned material or allowed us access to their collections: James Boone (FMNH), Jose Clavijo (MIZA), José Enrique Castillo (IAVH), Manoel Zumbado (Instituto de Biodiversidad, Costa Rica), Marcia Couri (MNRJ), María Julieta Ledezma (UASC), Michael Sharkey (Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA), and Nigel Wyatt (BMNH). Silvio Nihei thanks Adrian Pont and the staff of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Oxford, UK) for the facilities, and David Notton and Nigel Wyatt for the facilities at the BMNH. Financial support received from CNPq, proc. n. 303897/2008-2 (S.S.N.) and 300873/2008-5 (C.J.B.C.), from CAPES, proc. n. 0321/03–6 (S.S.N.), and from FAPESP, proc. n. 2007/50836-7 (S.S.N.).