Phylogenetic relationships among eighteen neotropical Culicini species.

The subgeneric relationships among 8 generic and infrageneric taxa of the Culicini tribe were examined by cladistic analysis based on 30 larval mouthpart characters (maxillae and mandibles) of 7 subgenera of Culex L. and 1 of Deinocerites Theobald. We analyzed 18 ingroup species as well as Deinocerites melanophylum Dyar and Knab as a sister group, and Aedes taeniorhynchus Wiedemann as an outgroup. A parsimony analysis using the Nona program resulted in 2 trees each of 109 steps (consistency and retention indices = 0.88). The topologies obtained were similar to the current classification of the tribe, based on nonexplicit methods mainly including adult characters, with 2 exceptions. In the present work, the monophyly of the tribe Culicini (Culex + Deinocerites) was supported by 4 synapomorphies. The subgenus Lutzia Theobald formed the most basal clade in the tribe Culicini and the placement of Phenacomyia Harbach and Peyton as a subgenus was validated by its location as a sister group of the subgenus Culex and other subgenera. The subgenus Carrollia Lutz was the most robust taxon, supported by 5 synapomorphies, and was congruent with the infragroups of the current classification. The relationships among Deinocerites, Anoedioporpa Dyar, Microculex Theobald, and Melanoconion Theobald were unresolved, but were placed in the most internal clade of the tribe. The 1st exception to the accepted classification was the poorly resolved boundary between Anoedioporpa and Microculex The 2nd was the strong support (with 11 synapomorphies) for the inclusion of Deinocerites as a subgenus of Culex in the Culicini, which is proposed here.