Limits and generic relationships of the tribe Sciophilini (Diptera: Mycetophilidae)

Recent phylogenetic work on the Mycetophilidae has provided good support for the monophyly of the subfamily Mycetophilinae and the two tribes it contains, but the monophyly of the four tribes in the other subfamily, the Sciophilinae, remains uncertain. A previous phylogenetic study of Palaearctic mycetophilid genera supported the monophyly of two Sciophilinae tribes, the Mycomyiini and Sciophilini. Unfortunately only a third of the genera placed in the Sciophilini were included in the analysis, so the monophyly of this group requires further confirmation. The Sciophilini is a cosmopolitan group of fungus gnats currently containing 540 species in 38 genera worldwide. I tested the monophyly of this tribe by performing a phylogenetic analysis using morphological characters of multiple exemplars from all genera assigned to the tribe. The resulting relationships between the genera, as well as the taxonomic limits of both the tribe and the genera are discussed. Changes to the classification of the Mycetophilidae, based on these new limits, will be required to accurately reflect both the evolutionary history of the Sciophilini and those genera included, synonymized, or removed, from the tribe.