Phylogeny and generic classification of the Anthidiini bees from the Neotropical region (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

The Anthidiini is a highly diverse tribe of bees with approximately 700 described species worldwide, of which about 350 occur in the Neotropical region. However, the phylogenetic relationships within the Neotropical lineage are poorly understood and the generic limits of these clades are still controversial, with different proposals of classification. Therefore, we carried out a phylogenetic study to investigate the monophyly of Neotropical taxa, to understand the relationships among Neotropical genera, and to propose a classification congruent with the evolution of the group. We performed parsimony-based morphological analyses using a matrix of 204 characters from adults of 83 species (79 terminal taxa of Anthidiini and four outgroup taxa). The results provide strong support for the monophyly of the tribe, despite a representation biased towards the Neotropical taxa. The monophyly of a large group containing only species from Neotropical genera is also supported. The latter group is divided into six main clades, one of them composed of only cleptoparasitic taxa (Austrostelis, Hoplostelis, Melostelis and Rhynostelis). The morphological characters assembled here allowed scrutiny of the genus-level classification of the Neotropical clade and may be useful for future phylogenetic studies involving the Anthidiini from other biogeographic regions.