CERASOMMATIDIIDAE STATUS RESTORED

Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel, Tomaszewska, Wioletta, Szawaryn, Karol, Robertson, James, Seidel, Matthias, Ślipiński, Adam & Fikáček, Martin, 2023, The resurrection of Cerasommatidiidae, an enigmatic group of coccinelloid beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinelloidea) based on molecular and morphological evidence, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 197 (4), pp. 1078-1115 : 1085

CERASOMMATIDIIDAE STATUS RESTORED

The BI, ML and MP analyses provide unequivocal support for the monophyly of Cerasommatidia clade and, therefore, we propose the restoration of family status for Cerasommatidiidae .

Cerasommatidiidae are divided into four clades corresponding to the four genera proposed here ( Fig. 2 ). The new monotypic genus from Madagascar, MahaƲelo , is recovered as sister-taxon to the Neotropical, type genus of the family, Cerasommatidia (= Ibicarella , synon. nov.), albeit with weak support (PP = 0.83). Morphologically, both genera share the labial palp with oval, inflated second palpomere (12:1). MahaƲelo is characterized by one uncontroverted synapomorphy, scutellar shield invisible (25:1) and one homoplastic feature, abdominal ventrite 1 without postcoxal lines (34:0). Cerasommatidia is supported by one homoplastic character: mesotrochantin at least partially exposed (28:0). Support for the clade comprising the new genera Yamuy and Karumbe is low (PP = 0.47) and lacks supporting morphological features. The new genus Karumbe is supported by the distinctly bordered pronotal base (19:1) and pronotal anterior margin with bordering line crenulate (21:1). Yamuy is characterized by a single uncontroverted synapomorphy, elytral vestiture comprising multiple setal forms (1:1) and one homoplastic character, the abdominal ventrite 1 with postcoxal lines (34:1).

Figures

Figure 2. Results of the phylogenetic analyses of the combined, morphological and molecular dataset under Bayesian inference. Statistical support for branches show posterior probabilities. Branch lengths are kept and shown in the same proportion all along the tree. Apomorphies tracked in WINCLADA are shown upon each branch. DNA helix graphic after taxon name indicates taxa for which molecular data were available; asterisk ‘*’ indicates interspecific chimeras (combined data from two different species of the same genus).