Evolution of fossil and living spider flies based on morphological and molecular data (Diptera, Acroceridae)

Abstract

The phylogeny of spider flies is presented based on an analysis of DNA sequence data combined with morphological characters for both living and fossil species. We sampled 40 extant and extinct genera across all major lineages of Acroceridae, which were compared with outgroup taxa from various lower brachyceran families. In all, 81 morphological characters of 60 extant and 10 extinct ingroup species were combined with 7.1 kb of DNA sequences of two nuclear (CAD and 28S rDNA) and two mitochondrial genes (COI and 16S rDNA). Results strongly support the monophyly of Acroceridae, with major clades contained within classified here in five extant subfamilies (Acrocerinae, Cyrtinae stat. rev., Ogcodinae stat. rev., Panopinae and Philopotinae) and one extinct subfamily, Archocyrtinae. The evolution of important spider fly traits is discussed, including genitalia and wing venation. The status of the enigmatic Psilodera Gray and Pterodontia Gray as members of the Panopinae is confirmed based on both molecular and morphological data.