Comparison of isoenzyme electrophoresis and morphometric analysis for phylogenetic reconstruction of the rhodniini (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae)

Abstract

A phylogenetic reconstruction of the medically important tribe Rhodniini (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) based on multilocus isoenzyme electrophoresis is compared with phylogenetic patterns derived from a traditional morphometric analysis. Even with non-normality in the morphometric data, and some inequalities in population variances, discriminant analysis of size-free variables provided broadly similar phylogenetic information to that derived from isoenzyme analysis, revealing 3 main species groups within the genus Rhodnius.