To Baetidae or not to Baetidae: comprehensive phylogeny of baeitid mayflies

The Baetidae are an important group of Mayflies because of their position on the mayfly tree of life in that they are a key to understanding key evolutionary trends, such as the origin of wings and flight. Phylogenetic relationships of mayflies are still not very well known, however molecular and morphological data have begun to shed light on the relationships of these insects (Ogden et al. 2009). Recent molecular and morphological analyses have examined relationships of some of the lineages of Baetidae distributed in different regions of the world (Gattolliat et al., 2008; Kluge, 1997; Monaghan et al., 2005; Nieto, 2010;). Most of these studies suggest two subfamilies, Baetinae and Cloeoninae. This study represents one of the largest (in terms of data) and most diverse (in terms of taxa) phylogenetic analysis performed on the family Baetidae to date. The dataset consists of more than 130 taxa sequenced for five genes (Nuclear 18S rDNA; Nuclear 28S rDNA; Histone 3, Mitochondrial 16S rDNA; and Mitochondrial 12S rDNA). DNA sequences were aligned in Muscle and tree reconstruction and nodal support was performed under varying methods.