Systematics of Physoderinae (Reduviidae: Heteroptera): Origins of the Madagascar fauna and taxonomic revision of the Indo-Pacific Physoderes Westwood

Physoderinae in Madagascar exhibit the widest morphological diversity represented by 11 of the 15 genera in this subfamily. In contrast, the widely distributed Physoderes across the Oriental and Australasian regions contains the highest species diversity (37 spp.). We test the monophyly of the Malagasy fauna to infer a single origin and subsequent radiation within the island by conducting a cladistic analysis based on a morphological matrix consisting of a complete genus-level sampling of worldwide physoderines. The hypothesized positioning of the Neotropical genera (Cryptophysoderes, Leptophysoderes) as sister to all remaining physoderines as well as having the Neotropical reduviine Aradomorpha as the sister-group to Physoderinae are also tested in the same analysis. A taxonomic revision of the speciose Physoderes is also conducted to provide an updated species description including their distributional limits, clear species diagnoses and an identification key.