Morphology-based phylogeny of oval palm and flower beetles (Coleoptera: Mycteridae: Eurypinae), with descriptions of new genera and species from Australia

Mycteridae are a small group of Tenebrionoidea, comprising three subfamilies and over 180 species. Eurypinae are the most species-rich subfamily, with diverse external morphology of adults at both generic and species levels. To date, no study of mycterid systematics using phylogenetic approaches has been conducted. In this paper, we reconstruct a phylogeny of eurypine beetles based on morphological characters, covering most described genera. This is the first attempt to investigate the evolution and relationships of Mycteridae. The phylogenetic positions of several systematically enigmatic genera can thus be hypothesized based on the topology. Recent molecular phylogenetic frameworks and fossil records reveal that most eurypine lineages probably evolved during the Late Mesozoic to Early Cenozoic. Our results also indicate that the fauna of the current regions of the world and Early Cenozoic Europe consist(ed) of various eurypine lineages, supporting the previously proposed hypothesis that Eurypinae were once widely distributed, but underwent a subsequent partial extinction. Two new genera and three new species are described from Australia, based on comparative anatomy and cladistic analysis, namely Austroconomorphus slipinskii gen. et sp. nov., Austrophaeogala lawrencei gen. et sp. nov. and Austrophaeogala ovipennis sp. nov. We demonstrate that the phylogenetic diversity of Mycteridae in Australia is greater than previously suspected.

Automated summary

Mycteridae is a small group of Tenebrionoidea, consisting of three subfamilies and over 180 species. This paper reconstructs the phylogeny of eurypine beetles based on morphological characters and investigates the evolution and relationships of Mycteridae. The results suggest that eurypine lineages likely evolved during the Late Mesozoic to Early Cenozoic. Additionally, two new genera and three new species are described from Australia, indicating a greater phylogenetic diversity of Mycteridae in Australia than previously thought.