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2021 Abstracts

Phylogenetic Relationships of the Flat-headed Mayflies (Ephemeroptera)

Presenter: Taylor Murphy, College of Science, Biology
Authors: Taylor Murphy, T. Heath Ogden
Faculty Advisor: Heath Ogden, College of Science, Biology
Institution: Utah Valley University

With more than 600 species and 36 genera, the Heptageniidae family of mayflies is primarily found throughout the Holarctic, Oriental, and Afrotropical biogeographic realms with some presence in Central and South America. Flat-headed mayflies dwell in streams and rivers and consume detritus and diatoms. Historically, the relationship of Heptageniidae relative to other mayfly families hasn’t been well understood (Ogden et al. 2009, Yanai et al 2017). Furthermore, the placement of the genera Arthroplea and Pseudiron have been inconclusive. This project has three main objectives: 1) Generate sequence data for taxa that are still lacking some DNA sequences; 2) Curate and combine the traditional genes (12S, 16S, 18S, 28S, H3, and COI) with targeted capture phylogenomic data to produce a tree for 16 genera, some with multiple representatives, in order to elucidate the relationships among the family; 3) Test the hypothesis that Arthroplea and Pseudiron are derived heptageniids instead of classified as their own monogeneric families.