D3233: Phylogenomics and morphology reciprocally delimit species in the aquatic Suphisellus nigrinus complex (Coleoptera: Noteridae)

Suphisellus sensu lato is a diverse genus of the aquatic beetle family Noteridae. Individuals attributed to the species Suphisellus nigrinus (Aube) are among the most widespread and commonly collected in the Neotropics. However, preliminary taxonomic observations suggest the species comprises multiple superficially cryptic lineages without clear delimiting morphology. To resolve the relationships within the group, we apply a phylogenomics approach with the target capture of ultraconserved elements (UCEs). Using a tailored, Noterid-specific, UCE probe-set, we capture UCE sequence data from 46 individuals from within the nigrinus complex with broad geographic sampling and infer the phylogeny of the group. Resulting data matrices include thousands of captured UCE loci, despite stringent filtering for missing data. We recover strongly supported phylogenetic estimates across data treatments and confirm the existence of multiple distinct lineages within the nigrinus complex, with relationships depicting geographic structuring. This is the highest resolution phylogenetic study within Suphisellus to date. Presented are data capture results and phylogenetic trees. Evolutionary implications and future directions are discussed.