Angel Guerra; Curtis Hoffmann, Utah Valley University
The mayflies are of ancient lineage, dating back to some 290 million years ago, approximately near the late Carboniferous or early Permian periods (Brittain & Sartori, 2003). The order currently is comprised of over 3000 species, 400 genera, and at least 42 described families to date (Barber-James et al., 2008). The central research questions we will be addressing are 1) What are the phylogenetic relationships within species of mayflies? 2) Do additional data add phylogenetic signal to the existing dataset? 3) What can the evolution of mayflies teach us about the evolution of flight in insects? The main purpose of this study was to sequence additional DNA data to add to a six gene molecular phylogenetic analysis of the relationships within the entire order Ephemeroptera (mayflies). Specifically, this study will investigate (i) congruence with other studies, specifically the Ogden et al. (2009) study; (ii) monophyly of the mayfly families; and (iii) examine the phylogenetic value of the genes themselves. Methods: Taxonomic sampling comprised of 96 species in 93 genera, within 34 respective families (all recognized as lineages of Ephemeroptera) making this the largest taxonomic sampling of the order Ephemeroptera to date. Six genes were used: mitochondrial ribosomal 12S and 16S, nuclear ribosomal 18S and 28S, protein-coding Histone 3, and Cytochrome Oxidase 1 genes. Tree reconstruction was carried out under likelihood, Bayesian, and parsimony frameworks. Clade robustness was assessed through several approaches. Conclusions: The only lineage fully recovered through this analysis was the superfamily Ephemerelloidea. The genus Siphluriscus(Siphluriscidae) was supported as sister to all mayflies, and multiple known families were supported as monophyletic. Many families were supported as monophyletic, and some families, currently considered monophyletic, were not supported to be monophyletic.