Phylogeny of the order Ephemeroptera Hyatt & Arms, 1891 (Insecta) based on morphological characters

• Ano de defesa: 2023
• Autor(a) principal: Lima, Marcela Miranda de
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Palavras-chave em Português: Efemérida - Filogenia; Efemérida - Classificação; Insetos aquáticos; Taxonomia dos Grupos Recentes
• Link de acesso: https://locus.ufv.br//handle/123456789/32053; https://doi.org/10.47328/ufvbbt.2023.649

The suprafamilial classification of Ephemeroptera has still not reached consensus. Of the few publications that have addressed the phylogeny of the entire order in the last 20 years, only one has performed a cladistic analysis based on parsimony to analyze morphological data. In the first chapter of this thesis, we attempt to understand this lack of consensus in the classification of Ephemeroptera. To do so, we have provided a commented and contextualized review of the methods used to date to infer relationships among the major groups and discuss ways to improve knowledge of the phylogeny of Ephemeroptera and to achieve a more comprehensive classification of the group. We conclude that it is imperative that more scientists devote themselves to the study of the phylogeny of the group on the basis of methods that can be replicated so that a larger number of phylogenetic hypotheses can be tested and a robust classification can be proposed for the group. In the second chapter, a phylogenetic analysis of the order was conducted based on morphological data from nymphs and adults. A matrix consisting of 106 taxa and 131 morphological characters was analyzed using parsimony under Implied Weighting with five different K values (8, 9, 10, 11 and 12). The analyzes yielded five different topologies, one for each K values. The consensus of all analyzes was unresolved for the deep relationship within Ephemeroptera. In the general consensus, monophyly is supported for Caenotergaliae (=Caenoidea), Ephemerella/Fg1 (=Ephemerelloidea), Eusetisura, Fimbriatotergaliae, Fossoriae, Heptagennota, and Posteritorna (=Carapacea). Anteritorna, Branchitergaliae, and Tridentiseta were not supported as monophyletic. Five families were not found to be monophyletic in any of our analyzes: Ephemerellidae, Ephemeridae, Nesameletidae, Potamanthidae, and Teloganodidae. The evolution of the number of dentisetae on the maxilla, the presence and shape of maxillary gills, the degree of fusion of the forewing pads, and the presence of a double row of long filtering hairs on anterior femora and tibiae, all important characters for the systematics of mayflies is presented and discussed.Keywords: Aquatic insects. Mayflies. Classification. Parsimony. Cladistic analysis. Character evolution.