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Gondwanalox clade

Kipling Will
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taxon links [up-->]Abacetini [up-->]Loxandrini [down<--]pterostichite grade Interpreting the tree
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Containing group: pterostichite grade

Introduction

Gondwanalox clade is an informal name for Loxandrini + Abacetini. Member taxa are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few, almost certainly more recently derived species found in temperate zones. Most taxa are found in wet habitats and are normally collected in swampy or riparian situations. Loxandrines are restricted to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Tasmania, South and Central America and mid to eastern North America as far north as the Great Lakes. Abacetines have a complementary distribution, ranging from Africa and southern Europe, across the Asian tropics to reach as far as northeastern Australia.

Characteristics

The adult and larval morphology of the included taxa have no single identifying characteristic nor is there a constant set of derived states that define this clade. The list below is mostly a collection of absence-state characteristics or plesiomorphic combinations that separates them from other groups that might be seen as similar.

Gondwanalox taxa are Harpalinae that have ALL of the following states:

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

There have been several authors that discussed the possible association of loxandrines with abacetines (Van Emden 1949; Arndt 1988; Bousquet 1985; Straneo, 1991; Bousquet & Larochelle 1993; Bousquet 1999). This was also the result found in a cladistic analysis of morphological characters (Will 2000); however, the arrangement and monophyly was questionable and character support was minimal in that study of a rather limited set of taxa. In a later analysis that was focused on testing monphyly of Loxandrini based on morphology and sequence data from multiple gene loci, the Gondwanalox clade is always recovered (Will unpublished). The monophyly of Loxandrini is also well supported, while monophyly of Abacetini is still uncertain.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
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Scientific Name Abacetus sp
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Identified By K.Will
Life Cycle Stage Adult
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © Kipling Will
Scientific Name Stolonis tapiai
Location Ecuador
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Identified By K.Will
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage Adult
Body Part Habitus
View Dorsal
Collection EMEC
Type Paratype
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © Kipling Will
About This Page

Kipling Will
University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Kipling Will at

Page: Tree of Life Gondwanalox clade. Authored by Kipling Will. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Will, Kipling. 2006. Gondwanalox clade. Version 07 July 2006 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Gondwanalox_clade/51599/2006.07.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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Gondwanalox clade

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