PTINIDAE (Borowski & Zahradnic, 2007)

Bell, Karen Leanne & Philips, T. Keith, 2012, Molecular systematics and evolution of the Ptinidae (Coleoptera: Bostrichoidea) and related families, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 165 (1), pp. 88-108 : 103

THE PTINIDAE

The Ptinidae (including both the spider beetles and the anobiids) is supported as monophyletic in parsimony analysis (with the limited data set and, with minor exceptions, the expanded data set). In contrast, the non-monophyly of the Ptinidae is seen in the Bayesian analysis: i.e. the Ptinidae s.s. is sister to the anobiids + bostrichids. This latter relationship is similar to the topology seen in Hunt et al. (2007).

Within the Ptinidae s.l., all three main topologies show that the Anobiidae is monophyletic (with the exception of one anobiid within the Ptinidae s.s. in the limited parsimony analysis). This is also seen in the phylogenetic analysis of the entire Coleoptera based on DNA sequences in Hunt et al. (2007), but not in McKenna & Farrell (2009). Adult morphological evidence in Philips (2000) also supports monophyly.

The Ptinidae s.s., the group formerly known as the spider beetles, appears to be a well-supported monophyletic group. The only exception was that in one of the three main topologies, the group is paraphyletic, with a dermestid and an anobiid within the clade. This paraphyly may be an anomalous result of the expanded data set and the potential of missing data to lead this type of search to an incorrect conclusion (for a discussion of this potential problem, see Hughes & Vogler, 2004; Siddall, 2010).