Phylogeny and biogeography of the enigmatic ghost lineage Cylindrotomidae (Diptera, Nematocera).

ABSTRACT: Ghost lineages have always challenged the understanding of organism evolution. They participate in misinterpretations in phylogenetic, clade dating, biogeographic, and paleoecologic studies. They directly result from fossilization biases and organism biology. The Cylindrotomidae are a perfect example of an unexplained ghost lineage during the Mesozoic, as its sister family Tipulidae is already well diversified during the Cretaceous, while the oldest Cylindrotomidae are Paleogene representatives of the extant genus Cylindrotoma and of the enigmatic fossil genus Cyttaromyia. Here we clarify the phylogenetic position of Cyttaromyia in the stem group of the whole family, suggesting that the crown group of the Cylindrotomidae began to diversify during the Cenozoic, unlike their sister group Tip

SUBMITTER: Kania-Klosok I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8260593 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature