Morphology and phylogeny of the Cerylonid Series (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea)

Phylogenetic relationships within the diverse beetle superfamily Cucujoidea are poorly known. The Cerylonid Series (CS) is the largest of all proposed superfamilial cucujoid groups, comprising eight families and representing most of the known cucujoid species diversity. Recent molecular hypotheses of CS phylogeny (Hunt et al., 2007; Robertson et al., 2008) lack key taxa and proposed clades are only weakly supported, suggesting that the current suite of data is insufficient to clarify the internal relationships of the CS. Here we propose a phylogenetic hypothesis for the CS based on adult and larval morphology combined with a novel molecular data set in an attempt to: 1) place the CS among the remaining cucujoid families, 2) test the monophyly of the CS, and 3) test the monophyly of CS families and subfamilies and investigate relationships between them. Taxonomic and biological implications of this phylogeny are discussed.