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Utility Of The Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Ii Gene For Resolving Relationships Among Black Flies (Diptera: Simuliidae), K. P. Pruess, B. J. Adams, T. J. Parsons, X. Zhu, Thomas O. Powers

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

The complete mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene was sequenced from 17 black flies, representing 13 putative species, and used to infer phylogenetic relationships. A midge (Paratanytarsus sp.) and three mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, and Culex quinquefasciatus) were used as outgroup taxa. All outgroup taxa were highly divergent from black flies. Phylogenetic trees based on weighted parsimony (a priori and a posteriori), maximum likelihood, and neighbor-joining (log-determinant distances) differed topologically, with deeper nodes being the least well-supported. All analyses supported current classification into species groups but relationships among those groups were poorly resolved. The majority of phylogenetic …