A new phylogeny and phylogenetic classification for the Canthyloscelidae (Diptera: Psychodomorpha)

Abstract

A new phylogeny and phylogenetic classification for the Canthyloscelidae (Diptera: Psychodomorpha) is presented. A phylogenetic analysis of the Scatopsoidea is performed. A sister-group relationship between the Canthyloscelidae and Scatopsidae is accepted and the monophyly of the Canthyloscelidae is corroborated, including the genera Exiliscelis, Synneuron, Hyperoscelis, and Canthyloscelis. An earlier phylogenetic analysis of the group is considered, in which Synneuron was accepted as the sister-group of the Scatopsidae and Exiliscelis was considered the sister-group of Synneuron + Scatopsidae. Some apomorphic similarities between the larvae of all genera of Canthyloscelidae, especially the reduction of the head capsule, are considered true synapomorphies. Exiliscelis is considered the sister-group of the rest of the family and is placed in a new subfamily, Exiliscelinae. In the Canthyloscelinae, Synneuron is the sister-group of Hyperoscelis + Canthyloscelis. A phylogenetic classification of the group is proposed. Prohyperoscelis rohdendorfi Kovalev, 1985, from the Middle Jurassic in Russia, is accepted as the sister-group of Canthyloscelis.