Comparative analysis of forewings and phylogeny of Tafaliscinae sensu Desutter (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Gryllidae) using morphological and molecular data

Abstract

There are several studies using crickets as models of evolutionary study, mainly concerning speciation, acoustic communication, modification of forewings characters and relationship with habitats. Although crickets are good models of evolutionary studies, Grylloidea classification have had several controversies over the years. Therefore, higher-level phylogenies for Orthoptera, Ensifera and Grylloidea recently started to clarify these relationships. The Neotropical subfamily Tafaliscinae sensu Desutter, traditionally considered not valid, was recently recovered as monophyletic based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis. However, no taxonomic change has been proposed to validate this clade. Nowadays, the genera of Tafaliscinae are distributed along different tribes of Podoscirtinae (Aphonoidini and Paroecanthini). Although presenting morphological differences, mainly in the wings, these exclusively Neotropical crickets share a series of original features concerning leg size and ornamentation, and ovipositor shape, which suggest originality in their ways of life, including egg deposit. The morphological variability of the forewings in this group is remarkable and implies the occurrence of several modes of communication, from the common acoustic communication of crickets, to drumming and various ways of producing vibratory signals. Clearly these morphological traits and the behaviors that they produce can tell us a piece of the evolutionary history of these crickets. The aims of this project are to examine and compare morphological characters with emphasis in the forewings and male's phallic complexes of the specimens of Tafaliscinae deposited at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France and Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (ZIN), Saint Petersburg, Russia; to obtain molecular data of Tafaliscinae and outgroups (Podoscirtinae, Oecanthinae, Euscyrtinae, Hapithinae, Gryllinae) of preserved material available in the entomological collection of MNHN, using MNHN molecular facilities; to include all obtained data in a data matrix with those characters previously constructed in Brazil to perform a phylogenetic analysis with total evidence (morphological and molecular data) and apply this analysis to study the evolution of these crickets forewings, communication modalities and life habits.