Testing the monophyly of Calocidae (Insecta: Trichoptera) based on multiple molecular data.

Calocidae constitute a hypothesised monophyletic group of caddisflies (Trichoptera) being geographically restricted to New Zealand (one genus) and Australia (five genera). This analysis tests the monophyly of the family based on sequences from five different molecular genes. The complete data set includes 29 species and covers a complete genus representation of the Calocidae as well as representatives of other families in which one or more calocid genera have been classified. Sequences from two mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase I and 16S) and three nuclear (elongation factor 1-alpha, RNA polymerase-II, and Cadherin) genes were used, resulting in a 3958bp data set and 37.1% parsimony informative characters. The Cadherin (CAD) and RNA polymerase-II (POL-II) genes are used for the first time for revealing Trichoptera phylogenies. The character matrix was analyzed by using maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian criteria, the latter by applying three different partition strategies for comparison. Two most parsimonious trees were found, differing in the position of one clade within the sister-group to a monophyletic Calocidae. The Bayesian tree based on the maximum number of partitions differs from trees based on a reduced partition analysis with respect to taxa outside the current circumscription of Calocidae. Both the MP and Bayesian analyses left Calocidae monophyletic, with a monophyletic clade of all Australian genera being sister-group to the New Zealand genus. The results from the agreement subtree analysis demonstrates that CAD performs well both separately and in combination with other genes and adds substantial resolution to the calocid phylogeny in a combined MP analysis.