Pentatomoidea

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

Alternative views on Pentatomoidea relationships have been proposed in the past. A few of the hypothesis proposed for the group (not based on cladistic analyses) are for instance:

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From Gapud (1991) [as interpreted by Grazia et al. 2008].

From Cobben (1978) [as interpreted by Grazia et al. 2008].

From Cobben (1968) [as interpreted by Grazia et al. 2008].

From China & Miller (1959) [as interpreted by Grazia et al. 2008]

More recently, Grazia et al. (2008) using cladistic methods proposed a series of phylogenetic hypotheses for Pentatomoidea based on morphological, molecular, and combined data sets. The trees shown below are the alternative hypotheses for each one of these data sets. The taxon sampling for the molecular data set was not as complete as the morphological one. Clearly, more data–in particular molecular–is needed to test these hypotheses.

Here are some of the alternative hypotheses of Grazia et al. (2008):

Total evidence tree (weighting scheme 1:1)	Combined molecular tree (weighting scheme 1:1)

In Grazia et al. (2008) Pentatomidae (s. lat.) includes as subordinate groups Cyrtocorinae and Aphylinae, treated as families by some authors. In the morphological analysis Aphylinae, Cyrtocorinae, and Pentatomidae s. str. were always monophyletic. No molecular data were available for these taxa.

References

China, W.E., Miller, N.C.E. 1959. Check-list and keys to the families and subfamilies of the Hemiptera-Heteroptera. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology 8: 1–45.

Cobben, R.H. 1968. Evolutionary Trends in Heteroptera. Part I. Eggs, Architecture of the Shell, Gross Embrylology, and Eclosion. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen.

Cobben, R.H. 1978. Evolutionary Trends in Heteroptera. Part II. Mouthpart-structures and Feeding Strategies. Mededlingen Landbouwhogeschool 78-5. H. Veeman, Wageningen.

Gapud, V. 1991. A generic revision of the subfamily Asopinae with consideration of its phylogenetic position in the family Pentatomidae and superfamily Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera-Heteroptera). Philippine Entomologist 8: 865–961.

Grazia, J.; Schuh, R.T.; Wheeler, W.C. 2008. Phylogenetic relationships of family groups in Pentatomoidea based on morphology and DNA sequences (Insecta: Heteroptera). Cladistics 24: 1-45.

Li, H.-M., R.-Q. Deng, J.-W. Wang, Z.-Y. Chen, F.-L. Jia and X.-Z. Wang. 2005. A preliminary phylogeny of the Pentatomomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) based on nuclear 18S rDNA and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37(2):313-326.