Phylogeny of the African ball-rolling dung beetle genus Epirinus Reiche (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae : Scarabaeinae)
S. Mlambo A B , C. L. Sole A and C. H. Scholtz A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.
B Corresponding author. Email: smlambo@zoology.up.ac.za
Invertebrate Systematics 25(3) 197-207 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS10032
Submitted: 30 September 2010 Accepted: 30 May 2011 Published: 18 November 2011
Abstract
Recent phylogenetic analyses have pointed to the dung beetle genus Epirinus as the putative African ancestral roller group. Consequently, we tested the roller status of species in the genus with observational studies and constructed a molecular phylogeny based on partial sequences of two mitochondrial and two nuclear genes for 16 of 29 species. Tested species were confirmed to be dung rollers. Monophyly of the genus was confirmed, lending support to the synonymy of the wingless genus Endroedyantus with Epirinus. Moreover, the phylogenetic hypothesis was found to have a similar topology with a previously published one based on morphological data. A combined molecular and morphology analysis showed congruence between the molecular and morphological datasets. The loss of flight in some species and estimated divergence dates within Epirinus are discussed.
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