Building the tree of life: Reconstructing the evolution of a recent and megadiverse branch (Calyptrates : Diptera)

Abstract

The Calyptratae (Diptera: Brachycera) represents approximately 12% of all dipteran diversity and comprises of commonly known flies such as the housefly, tsetse fly, botfly, etc that are of economic and medical importance. The phylogeny of the calyptrates based solely on morphological data has not resolved many of the key issues in this group. Here, we have reconstructed the relationships between 247 calyptrate species representing the three superfamilies using molecular which includes the ribosomal genes 12S, 16S, 18S and 28S and the protein encoding genes COI, Cytb, CAD, Ef1a and Pol II. The monophyly of the Calyptratae, the superfamilies Hippoboscoidea and Oestroidea and the paraphyly of the muscoidea grade is established. The family and subfamily relationships are reconstructed and the life history evolution within the family Scathophagidae and host shifts within the Hippoboscoidea are traced. Various alignment techniques (eg. Clustal, direct optimization,etc) and analyses strategies have been explored for the datasets.