Monday, December 11, 2006 - 9:47 AM
0236

Tiny dancers: A preliminary phylogeny of North American Argia

Ryan Caesar, caesar.6@osu.edu and John W. Wenzel, wenzel.12@osu.edu. Ohio State University, Entomology, Museum of Biological Diversity 1315 Kinnear Road, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH

Odonates are charismatic, ecologically important aquatic insects that have long been recognized as model organisms for the study of sexual character evolution. The Pan-American genus Argia (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) contains 110 nominal species, making it the second largest genus in the order. The Nearctic species are common and can be abundant in and near aquatic habitats, where they are important as both predator and prey in trophic interactions. Monophyly of Coenagrionidae has been rarely recovered by phylogenetic analysis, and the position of Argia within Coenagrionidae remains uncertain. A robust hypothesis of phylogeny for Argia species will improve our knowledge of odonate systematics, as well as increase understanding of the role of sexual selection in speciation. A preliminary phylogeny of the North American species will be presented, the first modern phylogenetic analysis for these species. Variation in secondary sexual characters, as well as future work, will be discussed in light of this preliminary phylogenetic hypothesis.


Species 1: Odonata Coenagrionidae Argia apicalis (blue fronted dancer)
Species 2: Odonata Coenagrionidae Argia moesta (powdered dancer)
Species 3: Odonata Coenagrionidae Argia tibialis (blue tipped dancer)