Overview and phylogenetic relationships of the two-winged genera of South American Leptophlebiidae (Ephemeroptera)

Abstract

Four genera of two-winged Atalophlebiinae have been described from continental South America: Askola, Hagenulopsis, Bessierus and Perissophlebioides. Of these, only Askola and Hagenulopsis are known from larvae and adults; the others only from larvae. A cladistic analysis was carried out to test the possible monophyly of these four genera, and to determine their relationships with the other South American genera known from larvae and adults. Morphological data from both larvae and adults were used for the analyses. Two different analyses were performed to check the stability of the cladogram. Results: (1) Askola is most closely related to Hagenulopsis; (2) Perissophlebioides is most closely related to Bessierus; (3) the two-winged genera do not constitute a monophyletic group; (4) Perissophlebioides and Bessierus belong to the Farrodes lineage, but the relationships of Hagenulopsis + Askola in this study are still unclear.

Keywords:

• cladistic analysis
• neotropics
• Atalophlebiinae

Acknowledgements

The author is greatly indebted to A. Thomas and F. Salles for providing very important, unpublished information on Bessierus doloris and Perissophlebioides flinti, respectively, which made this analysis more accurate; also to A. Staniczek, the convenor of the XVI International Symposium on Plecoptera/XII International Conference on Ephemeroptera, and DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) for making my attendance to the meeting possible. The author belongs to the Argentine National Council of Scientific Research (CONICET), whose permanent support is acknowledged here. This study was supported by grant ANPCyT PICT 01-528.