Cladistic analysis of Spartocerini Amyot & Serville 1843 (Hemiptera, Coreidae, Coreinae)

Abstract

Abstract Among the 32 tribes of Coreinae currently recognized, Spartocerini comprises 66 extant species distributed in six genera: Euagona Dallas, Eubule Stål, Menenotus Laporte, Molchina Amyot & Serville, Sephina Amyot & Serville and Spartocera Laporte, distributed exclusively in the Western Hemisphere. We performed cladistic analyses using equal (EW) and also implied weighting (IW) based on 56 terminals (23 belonging to the ingroup) and 115 morphological characters, including male and female genitalia. Spartocerini was polyphyletic both under EW and IW because Molchina was nested in Mictini. We remove Molchina from Spartocerini and consider the genus as incertae sedis. Spartocera, Eubule, and Sephina were not recovered as monophyletic. Sephina pubera (Erichson) is considered as incertae sedis within Spartocerini, Eubule ampliata (Valdés) is transferred to Spartocera as a new combination, and Mamurius is included in Anisoscelini.