Department of Biological Sciences, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2010 Jul 29;5(7):e11887. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011887.
The extraordinary morphology, reproductive and developmental biology, and behavioral ecology of twisted wing parasites (order Strepsiptera) have puzzled biologists for centuries. Even today, the phylogenetic position of these enigmatic "insects from outer space" [1] remains uncertain and contentious. Recent authors have argued for the placement of Strepsiptera within or as a close relative of beetles (order Coleoptera), as sister group of flies (order Diptera), or even outside of Holometabola.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we combine data from several recent studies with new data (for a total of 9 nuclear genes and approximately 13 kb of aligned data for 34 taxa), to help clarify the phylogenetic placement of Strepsiptera. Our results unequivocally support the monophyly of Neuropteroidea (=Neuropterida+Coleoptera)+Strepsiptera, but recover Strepsiptera either derived from within polyphagan beetles (order Coleoptera), or in a position sister to Neuropterida. All other supra-ordinal- and ordinal-level relationships recovered with strong nodal support were consistent with most other recent studies.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results, coupled with the recent proposed placement of Strepsiptera sister to Coleoptera, suggest that while the phylogenetic neighborhood of Strepsiptera has been identified, unequivocal placement to a specific branch within Neuropteroidea will require additional study.
扭翅目寄生蜂（Strepsiptera）的非凡形态、生殖与发育生物学和行为生态学，让生物学家困惑了数个世纪。即使在今天，这些神秘的“天外昆虫”[1]的系统发育位置仍然不确定且存在争议。最近的一些作者认为，扭翅目应归入或作为甲虫（鞘翅目）的近亲，或作为双翅目（苍蝇）的姊妹群，甚至在完全变态类昆虫之外。
方法/主要发现：在这里，我们结合了最近几项研究的数据和新数据（共有 34 个分类群的 9 个核基因和大约 13kb 的对齐数据），以帮助澄清扭翅目的系统发育位置。我们的结果明确支持 Neuropteroidea（=Neuropterida+Coleoptera）+Strepsiptera 的单系性，但扭翅目要么来自多足类甲虫（鞘翅目）内部，要么位于 Neuropterida 的姊妹群位置。所有其他超目和目级水平的关系都得到了强有力的节点支持，与大多数最近的研究一致。
结论/意义：这些结果，加上最近提出的将扭翅目与鞘翅目并列的位置，表明虽然已经确定了扭翅目的系统发育邻居关系，但要明确将其归入 Neuropteroidea 内的特定分支，还需要进一步研究。
