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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365767
Research Project: Systematics of Flies of Importance in Agroecosystems and the Environment

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Phylogeny of the genus Tephritis Latreille 1804 (Diptera, Tephritidae)

Author
item KORNEYEV, SEVERYN - National Academy Of Sciences Of Ukraine
item SMIT, JOHN - Leiden University
item HULBERT, DANIEL - Michigan State University
item Norrbom, Allen
item GAIMARI, S.D. - California Department Of Agriculture
item KORNEYEV, VALERY - National Academy Of Sciences Of Ukraine
item SMITH, JAMES - Michigan State University

Submitted to: Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/3/2020
Publication Date: 5/26/2020
Citation: Korneyev, S., Smit, J.T., Hulbert, D.L., Norrbom, A.L., Gaimari, S., Korneyev, V., Smith, J.J. 2020. Phylogeny of the genus Tephritis Latreille 1804 (Diptera, Tephritidae). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny. 78:111-132.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26049/ASP78-1-2020-05

Interpretive Summary: Numerous species of fruit flies are pests of fruits and vegetables worldwide. The majority of the pest species are exotic, and to prevent their introduction into the USA, taxonomic knowledge of the distributions, host plants and diagnostic characters of all of the pest species as well as related species that might be mistaken for them is needed. The best way to organize this information is by grouping related species together (i.e., classification), and the most useful and predictive classification is based on evolutionary relationships (phylogeny). This publication reports results from an analysis of the phylogeny of one of the largest groups (genera) of fruit flies. This information is useful to APHIS-PPQ and other regulatory agencies responsible for limiting the spread of pest fruit flies.

Technical Abstract: The phylogenetic relationships of Tephritis Latreille, one of the largest genera of true fruit flies, are poorly understood due to the large number of species, lack of reliable morphological characters, difficulties in identification and, in general, low economic importance. In the present study we assembled a dataset of 35 species of the genus Tephritis (28 from the Palaearctic and seven from the Nearctic Region) and seven species from closely related genera of the tribe Tephritini (one species each of Actinoptera Rondani, Capitites Foote & Freidberg, Euaresta Loew, Goniurellia Hendel, Trupanea Schrank and two species of Heringina Aczél) and inferred phylogenetic relationships using five genes (2964 bp): mitochondrial CO1 (690 bp), mitochondrial 16S rRNA (561 bp), and the nuclear genes Period (485 bp), AATS (487 bp), and the 28S rRNA (741 bp). The results are a considerable advance for the understanding of species relationships, possible group structure and existing concepts of morphology, relationships and divergence of the genus. Our results based on molecular phylogenetic relationships show that morphological characters can be uninformative for defining monophyletic species groups; however, species groups are moderately well supported by association with certain host plant taxa (genera, subtribes or tribes). Furthermore we discuss monophyly of the genus Tephritis, and its relationships with closely related genera Heringina and Capitites