Assassin to bloodsucker: Unraveling higher-level phylogenetics of Reduviidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

Introduction. With more than 6600 species worldwide Reduviidae or assassin bugs are the second largest and one of the most diverse groups of True Bugs. Assassin bugs show remarkable morphological and biological diversity and an exceptional range of adaptations to prey capture. Despite these features, systematic studies on Reduviidae have been neglected over the past decades. Apart from the need for descriptive and revisionary work, the higher-level classification of Reduviidae is in poor condition. This is reflected in the fact that, depending on author, 21 to 32 subfamily-level names are recognized. Several subfamily-level taxa are poorly defined and their relationships are obscure. Methods. A cladistic analysis of higher-level taxa of Reduviidae based on 162 morphological characters and 75 ingroup and outgroup species is presented. We are currently testing this hypothesis with a matching molecular data set for ~ 90 ingroup taxa, comprising 18 subfamilies and 28 tribes. The dataset comprises ~3000 base pairs of ribosomal mitochondrial and nuclear gene regions that are aligned using secondary structure models. The data are analyzed using parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Results. The morphology-based hypothesis on higher-level groups of Reduviidae shows – to name only a few groups – the Phymatine Complex to be basal within Reduviidae, Triatominae as monophyletic and closely related to part of the Reduviinae and to Stenopodainae, Harpactorinae as monophyletic, and Reduviinae as polyphyletic. The analysis of molecular data corroborates most of these results, including a closer relationship of blood-feeding Triatominae with Stenopodainae and part of the Reduviinae.