Phylogeny and classification of aquatic bugs (Heteroptera, Nepomorpha). An essay review of Mahner's 'Systema Cryptoceratum Phylogeneticum'

Abstract

AbstractThis essay is essentially a review of the monographic work by the German zoologist Martin Mahner : 'Systema Cryptoceratum Phylogeneticum (Insecta, Heteroptera)' (Zoologica, Heft 143, Stuttgart 1993). The monograph is the most comprehensive systematic account of the aquatic bugs to date and the first major work on this group where the principles of phylogenetic (cladistic) systematics are consistently applied. Mahner follows the principles of the 'konsequentphylogenetische oder cladistischen Systematik', being Willi Hennig's phylogenetic systematics as interpreted and modified by Peter Ax. The methodological procedures recommended by this school of systematics is controversial, however, and call for a broader discussion of current trends in systematics as exemplified by the phylogeny and classification of the aquatic bugs.