Molecular phylogeny of the handsome fungus beetles (Coleoptera: Endomychidae): Who’s handsome and who’s not?

Molecular sequence data from 8 genes representing nuclear ribosomal (18S, 28S), nuclear protein-coding (wingless, H3), mitochondrial ribosomal (12S, 16S) and mitochondrial protein-coding (COI, COII) genes were used to reconstruct a phylogenetic hypothesis for the family Endomychidae. Parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian analyses of taxa representing 10 of the 12 subfamilies yielded similar topologies, including a polyphyletic Endomychidae. The subfamily Anamorphinae was consistently recovered as an independent lineage separate from the remaining endomychids. The clades comprising the subfamilies Mycetaeinae and Eupsilobiinae were consistently recovered as sister taxa but their relationship to the rest of Endomychidae varied between analyses. The two clades were recovered within Endomychidae using parsimony, but fell outside of Endomychidae using likelihood estimation and Bayesian analyses. The remaining 7 endomychid subfamilies were consistently recovered as a strongly supported group, comprising two distinct clades, the “PML” clade (Pleganophorinae, Merophysiinae and Leiestinae) and the “SEEL” clade (Stenotarsinae, Endomychinae, Epipocinae and Lycoperdininae). The subfamilies Stenotarsinae and Endomychinae were recovered as paraphyletic with respect to each other in all three analyses, suggesting that Stenotarsinae should be synonymized under Endomychinae, based on priority.