Close relatives of Mediterranean endemo-relict hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae) in South Africa: Morphological and molecular evidence in the Merodon melanocerus subgroup

PloS One
S RadenkovicAnte Vujić

Abstract

An ongoing study of the genus Merodon Meigen, 1803 in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) has revealed the existence of new species related to M. melanocerus Bezzi, 1915. The M. melanocerus subgroup belongs to the Afrotropical lineage of the M. desuturinus group. Revision of all available material from museums and detailed analyses of newly -collected specimens from our own expeditions to RSA resulted in delimitation of five species: M. capensis Hurkmans sp. n., M. commutabilis Radenković et Vujić sp. n., M. drakonis Vujić et Radenković sp. n., M. flavocerus Hurkmans sp. n. and M. melanocerus. In addition to classical morphological characters, sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene are provided for four related taxa. Results of molecular phylogenetic analyses supports monophyly of the M. desuturinus group and confirmed delimitation between species. Links between Palaearctic and Afrotropical faunas of this group, as well as possible evolutionary paths, are discussed. Based on phylogenetic analyses, four lineages (putative subgenera) have been recognized within the genus Merodon; besides the three previously established ones, albifrons+desuturinus, aureus (sensu lato) and avidus-nigritarsis, one new lineage named natans is distin...Continue Reading

References

Mar 5, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Paul D N HebertJeremy R deWaard
Sep 4, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Paul D N HebertJeremy R deWaard
Jul 16, 2004·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Kevin J Gaston, Mark A O'Neill
Feb 24, 2012·Systematic Biology·Fredrik RonquistJohn P Huelsenbeck
Mar 24, 2016·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Sudhir KumarKoichiro Tamura

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
RSA
PCR

Software Mentioned

BioEdit
CombineZ
NONA
FigTree
PubMed
MEGA
LOCKSS
Clustal W
MrBayes
BOLD System

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