Abstract
Porcellionidae is one of the richest families of Oniscidea globally distributed but we still lack a comprehensive and robust phylogeny of the taxa that are assigned to it. Employing five genetic markers (two mitochondrial and three nuclear) we inferred phylogenetic relationships among the majority of Porcellionidae genera. Phylogenetic analyses conducted via Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference resulted in similar tree topologies. The mtDNA genes cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and 16s rRNA (16s) were used for clade dating using previously published mutation rates. Our results provide evidence against the monophyly of both Porcellionidae and the largest genus of the family Porcellio. These results are compared to previous published work based on morphological evidence. The genera Leptotrichus and Brevurus are not grouped with the rest of Porcellionidae whereas Agnaridae are grouped with part of Porcellionidae. Armadillidium and Schizidium (Armadillidiidae) occupy a basal position on the phylogenetic tree. Even though the African genera Tura and Uramba (distributed in East Africa) are grouped together there is no general geographical pattern in other sub-clades. Additional taxonomic issues that arise in this work such as the assignment of the recently described genus Levantoniscus, arealso discussed. The status of Porcellionidae should be further revised and morphological characters traditionally used in Oniscidea taxonomy should be reconsidered in view of molecular evidence. The origin of the monophyletic clade within Porcellionidae as indicated in the present work is dated back to the Oligocene (~32 mya).
Highlights
The Oniscidea family Porcellionidae is one of the richest in species, with 333 species, belonging to 19 genera, currently assigned to it (Sfenthourakis and Taiti 2015)
Phylogenetic analyses conducted via Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference resulted in similar tree topologies
Isopod specimens belonging to five Porcellionidae genera, one to Trachelipodidae (Levantoniscus Cardoso, Taiti & Sfenthourakis, 2015) and two to Armadillidiidae (Armadillidium Brandt, 1831 and Schizidium Verhoeff, 1901) were collected on Cyprus between 2014 and 2016
Summary
The Oniscidea family Porcellionidae is one of the richest in species, with 333 species, belonging to 19 genera, currently assigned to it (Sfenthourakis and Taiti 2015). Monophyly of the most species-rich genera, Porcellio Latreille, 1804 and Porcellionides Miers, 1877, has been debated on the basis of both morphology (Vandel 1962, Schmalfuss 1992, 1998) and molecular evidence (Michel-Salzat and Bouchon 2000, Mattern 2003). Some Porcellionides species appear to be more closely related to the genus Porcellio (Michel-Salzat and Bouchon 2000, Mattern 2003) or even to the genus Cylisticus Schnitzler, 1853 that belongs to another family (Cylisticidae),than to other congeneric species (Michel-Salzat and Bouchon 2000). The monophyly of the family has been repeatedly questioned on the basis of both morphological and genetic data (Schmalfuss 1989, Michel-Salzat and Bouchon 2000, Mattern and Schlegel 2001, Schmidt 2003, 2008)
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