Phylogeny and biogeography of Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): molecular evidence of a New World origin of the Asiatic clade V aclav Hyp  sa, a,b, * David F. Tietz, a,b Jan Zrzav y, a,c Ryan O.M. Rego, a,b Cleber Galvao, d and Jos  e Jurberg d a Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia,  Cesk e Bud ejovice, Czech Republic b Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences,  Cesk e Bud ejovice, Czech Republic c Institute of Entomology, Academy of Sciences,  Cesk e Bud ejovice, Czech Republic d Laborat orio Nacional e Internacional de Refer^ encia em Taxonomia de Triatom  ıneos, Departamento de Entomologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Av. Brasil 4365, 21045-900 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Received 24 July 2001; received in revised form 12 December 2001 Abstract The most representative sample of molecular data, especially 16S and 12S rDNAs, is used to study the phylogeny and evo- lution of 57 species of three tribes, Rhodniini, Linshcosteini, and Triatomini, of the subfamily Triatominae. For the first time both New World and Old World species are brought together in a single phylogenetic analysis. Maximum-parsimony and distance estimation place both the Asiatic representatives, Linshcosteus and Triatoma rubrofasciata, as sister groups. The Linshcosteus–T. rubrofasciata clade nests firmly within Triatomini, in most analyses branching as a basalmost lineage, thus supporting a mon- ophyletic origin of Triatominae. A paraphyly of ‘‘Triatoma’’ with respect to Linshcosteus, Dipetalogaster, Eratyrus, and Pan- strongylus and the paraphyly of ‘‘Rhodnius’’ with respect to Psammolestes is observed in most of the analyses. Reinterpretation of triatomine biogeography points to the origin of Triatominae in northern areas of South America, in Central America, or in the southern region of North America. A few taxonomic changes are proposed: (1) reinclusion of Linshcosteus in Triatomini, (2) inclusion of Psammolestes in Rhodnius, (3) elevation of the ‘‘T. flavida complex’’ to the full genus Nesotriatoma (including N. flavida, N. bruneri, and N. obscura), (4) inclusion of the ‘‘T. spinolai complex’’ in Mepraia (including M. spinolai, M. gajardoi, M. eratyrusiformis, and M. breyeri), and (5) inclusion of ‘‘T.’’ dimidiata in Meccus (M. dimidiatus). Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. Keywords: Triatominae; Phylogeny; Biogeography; 16S rRNA 1. Introduction Although generally recognized as a monophyletic subfamilyoftheReduviidae,adaptedtoablood-feeding strategy (Usinger, 1944; Lent and Wygodzinsky, 1979; Clayton, 1990; Schuh and Slater, 1995), the subfamily Triatominaeposesseveralseriousphylogeneticquestions with respect to its origin and geographical distribution. ThecurrentclassificationofTriatominaerestsmainlyon an extensive review by Lent and Wygodzinsky (1979), followed by several considerable modifications by Lent etal.(1994)(elevationof Mepraia tofullgenus),Jurberg and Galvao (1997) (elevation of Hermanlentia), Car- cavallo et al. (1998) (description of Torrealbaia), and Carcavalloetal.(2000)(elevationof Meccus, separation of Linshcosteus as a tribe). Six tribes with 18 genera (Triatomini: Triatoma, Meccus, Dipetalogaster, Mepraia, Eratyrus, Panstrongylus, Hermanlentia, Paratriatoma; Linshcosteini: Linshcosteus; Rhodniini: Rhodnius, Psammolestes; Cavernicolini: Torrealbaia, Cavernicola; Bolboderini: Bolbodera, Belminus, Parabelminus, Mi- crotriatoma; Alberproseniini: Alberprosenia) composed Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23 (2002) 447–457 MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION www.academicpress.com * Corresponding author. Fax: +420-38-5300388. E-mail address: vacatko@paru.cas.cz (V. Hyps ˘a). 1055-7903/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. PII:S1055-7903(02)00023-4