PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 11 3(1): 162-209. 2000. A cladistic analysis of Sciomyzidae Fallen (Diptera) Luciane Marinoni and Wayne N. Mathis (LM) Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal do Parana, Caixa Postal 19020, 81531-990, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil; (WNM) Department of Entomology, NHB 169, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, U.S.A. Abstract. — A preliminary cladistic analysis of adult characters is presented that illustrates the phylogenetic relationships among the genera of the family Sciomyzidae. The monophyly of Sciomyzidae is based primarily on larval char-acters: the habit of malacophagy and the presence of a serrate ventral arch that articulates with the lower margin of the mouth hooks. A reduction in the num-ber of spermathecae, from three to two, is also likely to be a synapomorphy for Sciomyzidae. The analysis was done using Hennig86, and 37 morphological characters were arranged among 50 genera. After using successive weighting, six cladograms were produced, and from these a consensus cladogram was obtained. The subfamilies Salticellinae and Sciomyzinae are confirmed to be monophyletic, as are the tribes Sciomyzini and Tetanocerini. Eutrichomelina Steyskal, which has been placed in the tribe Sciomyzini, is transferred to the tribe Tetanocerini. The genus Antichaeta Haliday is confirmed to be in the tribe Tetanocerini. Illustrations of antenna and male terminalia are presented. Among families of Acalyptrate Diptera, the Sciomyzidae Fallen (1820), more com-monly known as marsh or snail-killing flies, are comparatively well studied, especially the biology of their immature stages (Berg & Knutson 1978, Ferrar 1987, Knutson 1987, Rozkosny 1997). Sciomyzid larvae are primarily parasitoids or predators on aquatic or terrestrial mollusks. This feeding proclivity may be of considerable impor-tance to the biological control of certain parasitic, mostly tropical diseases, such as fascioliasis and schistosomiasis (Knutson 1976). The trematodes causing both diseas-es parasitize many of the same aquatic mol-lusks, as intermediate hosts, that are also fed upon by sciomyzid larvae. Although the natural history and ecology and to a degree the descriptive taxonomy and cytology (Boyes et al. 1972) of the Sciomyzidae are relatively well known, no cladistic analysis at the generic level is available. As a step toward filling that void in our knowledge, this cladistic study was undertaken and is reported here. To provide perspective, we begin this report with a brief overview of the higher-level classifi-cation. In the first comprehensive treatment of Palearctic Sciomyzidae, Hendel (1900) di-vided the family into two subfamilies: Scio-myzinae and Tetanocerinae. Hendel char-acterized these subfamilies by the proepi-sternal seta (present in Sciomyzinae, absent in Tetanocerinae) and the frontal vitta (well developed and shiny in most Tetanocerinae, absent or reduced in most Sciomyzinae). Cresson (1920), in a study limited to the Nearctic fauna of Sciomyzidae, recognized Sciomyzinae, as characterized by Hendel, and described two additional subfamilies: Dryomyzinae and Euthycerinae. Cresson also proposed five tribes that were divided among two of the subfamilies as follows: (1) Sciomyzinae with Oidematopsini and Sciomyzini; and (2) Euthycerinae with
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