Abai, MR

6th International Congress of DipterologyPhylogenetic implications of the male genitalia inSarcophaginae (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)Giroux, M. (1), T. Pape (2) & T.A. Wheeler (1)(1) Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus,Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, CANADA, H9X 3V9(2) Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, DK - 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.Male sarcophagine genitalia are highly distinctive at the species level andprovide excellent species identification characters as well asphylogenetically informative characters for higher classification. However,to date, male genitalic characters have rarely been used for genus-levelphylogenetic analyses. Considering the complexity and the high degree ofsclerotization of the sarcophagine phallus, a comprehensive ScanningElectron Microscopy (SEM) study of the male acrophallus was undertakento clarify its morphology and to homologize its parts. In addition, to testthe phylogenetic implications of the male genitalia, 52 male genitalcharacters were defined and included in a matrix with 47 othermorphological characters. Based on a parsimony analysis, this workprovides a preliminary hypothesis of sarcophagine phylogeny of 72examplar species, representing 19 genera. On the basis of those results, themonophyly of Ravinia Robineau-Desvoidy, Oxysarcodexia Townsend,Titanogrypa Townsend, Helicobia Coquillett, Lepidodexia Brauer &Bergenstamm and Sarcophaga s.l. Meigen is supported but BlaesoxiphaLoew appears paraphyletic. The genus Helicobia is nested withinSarcophaga. Given that modern phylogenetic techniques were rarelyapplied to test the numerous generic classifications of the Sarcophaginae,this analysis provides one of the first relevant phylogenetic data clarifyingsarcophagine generic classification. The male genitalia morphology datasetis also highlighted as an important source of informative phylogeneticcharacters.Key Words: Sarcophaginae, male genitalia, morphology, phylogeny,scanning electron microscopy87