Phylogeny of subterranean termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

A molecular phylogenetic analysis of single-loci data sets for the COI, COII, and 16S rRNA genes was used to compare the resulting tree topologies and cladistic support for relationships among subfamilies and genera in the Rhinotermitidae family. A concatenated tree of the three loci sequences, 22 species and 9 subfamilies, provided cladistic support for the monophyletic relationship of the Rhinotermitidae. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analysis support existing hypothesis of Rhinotermitidae and Serritermitidae as two distinct monophyletic families, results otherwise not exemplified by single-loci topologies. This study contributes further support for the monophyly of extant genera and subfamilies in Rhinotermitidae provided by the confirmation from a multiple-loci topology. In addition, dissimilarities among single-loci topologies should provide future reference for the uncertainty such analyses introduce when exploring evolutionary histories.