Walking in the dark: Insights into the relationships within Pentatominae (Pentatomidae)

The monophyly of Pentatomidae, the fourth largest family within Heteroptera, have been recognized by different authors. Pentatomidae is divided in ten subfamilies, and 42 tribes are recognized only within Pentatominae. With few exceptions, relationships among pentatomids are not based on phylogenetic analysis, considering only taxonomic hypotheses within the family because of its multitude of different hypotheses. Studying higher and lower level taxa within Pentatominae, we are trying to shed light to the phylogenetic relationships within this subfamily. In lower levels, our efforts are concentrated in using integrative taxonomic approaches to delimiting species and phylogenetic analysis to hypothesize the relationships within groups of genera. In higher levels, we are focusing on the phylogenetic relationships of the Carpocorini, which comprises about 15% of the Pentatominae diversity, sampling species in a wide taxonomic range. We hope to make way toward a better-understood Pentatominae and facilitating future work on the Pentatomidae.