articleScienceDec 21, 2007Closed access

A Comprehensive Phylogeny of Beetles Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of a Superradiation

THToby HuntJBJohannes BergstenZLZuzana LevkaničováAPAnna PapadopoulouOJO.St John

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History · Natural History Museum · +3 more institutions

PubMed
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Abstract

Beetles represent almost one-fourth of all described species, and knowledge about their relationships and evolution adds to our understanding of biodiversity. We performed a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Coleoptera inferred from three genes and nearly 1900 species, representing more than 80% of the world's recognized beetle families. We defined basal relationships in the Polyphaga supergroup, which contains over 300,000 species, and established five families as the earliest branching lineages. By dating the phylogeny, we found that the success of beetles is explained neither by exceptional net diversification rates nor by a predominant role of herbivory and the Cretaceous rise of angiosperms. Instead,…

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Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Biology
  • Phylogenetics
  • Phylogenetic tree
  • Biodiversity
  • Species richness
  • Cladogenesis
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Cretaceous
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Life in Land
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