Study On The Taxonomy,Phylogeny And Biogeography Of The H. Quadrum-group Of Helina Robineau-Desvoidy From China (Diptera:Muscidae)

The genus Helina Robineau-Desvoidy,1830is the second largest genus of the Muscidae, andmore than600species are currently known worldwide. There are currently217species of Helinaknown from China. Helina includes so many species that it is an intimidating task to undertakeresearch on it or even to identify the species correctly. Furthermore, many specialists considerthat Helina is a “rest-all” repository for species that cannot be assigned elsewhere. These reasonsinfluenced and restricted the development of Helina, and even the phylogenetic of Muscidae.Therefore, to re-examine the specimens of231known Chinese species, it is convenient not onlyfor identifying species but for further study in phylogeny.(Wang et al.2004,2005,2006)The methods of compared morphology, cladistic phylogeny, and historical biogeographywere used in the paper. The phylogeny and biogeography of the H. quadrum-group from Chinawere studied. In order to further clarify the relationship about genus and groups relying on thenature system and and its relations with environment changes.The paper summarized the domestic and foreign research of H. quadrum-group and furtherdefined the identification features of H. quadrum-group, base on taxonomy, comparativemorphology and sequence systematic research methods. We separated49species of H.quadrum-group species from217known Helina from China, and completed the literatures, drewthe characteristics graphs, supplied distrubition regions and redescriped species of this groupbase on holotype. The paper gave a key and reported two new species from China.The cladistic phylogeny of the quadrum-group was studied for the first time. Speciesrelationships in quadrum-group and the relationships between Helina and other genus inMuscoidea were nailed down. The results support13kind of group system, so as to further verifythe rationality of the division of the group.We put forward four distribution patterns in respects of biogeography and analyzed the faunaof Chinese species in China and world. Basing on the cladistic phylogeny, the cladisticbiogeography of the group was studied, and the origin and evolvement of the group and theeffects of the uplift of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau on this group were discussed.