Phylogeny Of Panorpidae (Mecoptera) Based On Geometric Morphometrics

Panorpidae is the largest family in Mecoptera, consisting of 427 described species. They are known as the important ecological indicators. However, the generic taxonomy and phylogeny in the family of Panorpipae are disordered so far. Hence, it is critical to consider for the phylogeny of Panorpipae with a new method.Geometric morphometrics was used by statistical analysis of landmark coordinates on one species of Sinopanorpa, 11 species of Panorpa and 10 species of scorpionflies in Huoditang area, investigating their phylogeny with the Bittacus implicatus as the outgroup. Whether the black-tailed Panorpa is the same species with P. liui was also analyzed. Combining with the morphological characters and molecular data, we discussed the phylogeny of Panorpidae and polymorphism of P. liui. The main results are as follows:A one-way ANOVA of Procrustes coordinates shows highly significant differences between groups. The phylogenetic tree shows that Sinopanorpa tincta and Bittacus implicatus are divided into two branches separately, both of them close to the bottom of the tree, indicating that Bittacidae is more primitive than Panorpidae and confirm the establishment of the genus Sinopanorpa. The tree also suggests a close relationship between P. jilinensis and P. liui because they are located at the base of the tree, which could be an evidence for the relative primitive species. The P. obtusa, P. emarginata, P nanwutaina and P. dubia are clustered to the much close position, which belong to the P. centralis group. As members of the P. davidi group, P. qinlingensis and P. fulvastra are close to each other. P. sexspinosa lies to the top of the topology tree, to our surprise, it is close to the P. centralis group not P. davidi group, inconsistent with the morphological result, perhaps showing a relative primitive evolutionary status. The result of 10 species of scorpionflies from Huoditang area also confirms the erection of the genus of Sinopanorpa. P. emarginata and P. sexspinosa, P. bifasciata and P. reni were situated at the two nearest branches separately, likely indicating their close relationship in phologeny and comparatively evolutionary status.The principal component analysis shows that the black-tailed Panorpa is hardly separable from P. liui, so they are probably conspecific. The significance of polymorphism in the adaption of the scorpionfly is briefly discussed.