Abstract:

Phylogenetic relationships among 38 species in 7 subfamilies of Cerambycidae were investigated using partial ribosomal 28S rDNA sequence data. Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed using Maximum Parsimony methods and Bayesian Inference method. Sequence analysis indicated that there were 521 conserved sites, accounting for 67.5% of all sites, and 136 parsimony informative sites, accounting for 17.6% of all sites. The average content of G+C was 60.8%, significantly higher than that of A+T, showing that the base compositions were biased in G+C. Transition was slightly higher than transversion. Phylogenetic tree results indicated that Cerambycinae, Prioninae, Lepturinae and Lamiinae were monophyletic group. This result was consistent with the traditional typoiogical classification. These results suggest that nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA would be a viable genetic marker to resolve divergences among subfamilies of Cerambycidae.

Key words: Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, 28S rDNA, molecular phylogeny