Taxonomic revisions of Sepidiini (Tenebrionidae: Pimeliinae) using phylogenomic analyses and morphology

Monday, November 14, 2022

9:00 AM – 9:12 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 110

Presenting Author(s)

Olivia M. Gearner

Graduate Student
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana

Co-Author(s)

KK

Kojun Kanda

USDA-ARS
Washington, District of Columbia
MK

Marcin Kaminski

Polish Academy of Sciences
Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
Kali L. Swichtenberg (she/her/hers)

Graduate Student
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona
Christopher C. Wirth

Collection Manager
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
RL

Ryan Lumen

Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
AS

Aaron D. Smith

Assistant Professor
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana

Tok-Tokkie beetles (Tenebrionidae: Pimeliinae: Sepidiini) are a species-rich ( >1,000 sp./spp.) and morphologically diverse tribe of desert-inhabiting darkling beetles distributed throughout Africa and the southern Western Palearctic. This tribe contains many large and charismatic species, including the largest known tenebrionid species, Stridulomus sulcicollis (Péringuey, 1885)--measuring ~80.0 mm! Additionally, many sepidiines are known for their substrate tapping behavior, a form of sexual communication used to locate mates. Despite the cultural significance and attention this group receives, this tribe needs revision at all taxonomic levels. To test current subtribal and generic limits within the group, we reconstructed a phylogeny for the tribe based on targeted enrichment sequence data for 554 genetic loci from 75+ taxa. The resulting phylogeny is used to identify relationships between morphologically distinct lineages and propose new subtribal and generic limits within the tribe.