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Student 10-Minute Paper

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Student Competition

Student

Grad Competition SysEB: Phylogenetics

(1st Place [Tie]) Taxonomic revisions of Sepidiini (Tenebrionidae: Pimeliinae) using phylogenomic analyses and morphology

Monday, November 6, 2023
9:12 AM – 9:24 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Chesapeake E-F
In-Person Student Competition
Toktokkie 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 combined with ~150 morphological characters 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.