Afrotropical Polypedilum subgenus Tripodura, with a review of the subgenus (Diptera: Chironomidae)

A subgeneric diagnosis for all stages of the subgenus Tripodura Townes, 1945 of the genus Polypedilum Kieffer, 1912 is given. Nine new Afrotropical species of Tripodura are described: R (T) chelum Vardal sp. n., P. (T) amplificatus Bjorlo sp. n., P.(T.) patulum Bjorlo sp. n., P. (T) spinalveum, Vardal sp. n., P.(T) ewei Bjorlo sp. n., P.(T) ogoouense Bjorlo sp. n., P.(T) akani Bjorlo sp. n., P.(T) dagombae Bjorlo sp. n., and P.(T) ampuratum Bjorlo sp. n.; all as male imagines only P.(T) alboguttatum Kieffer, P.(T) albosignatum Kieffer, P(T) tropicum Kieffer, P(T) pruina Freeman, P.(T) quinqueguttatum Kieffer, P(T) aegyptium Kieffer, P(T) tridens Freeman, R(T) allansoni Freeman, P.(T) longicrus Kieffer, P.(T) annulatipes Kieffer and P.(T) abyssinae Kieffer are re-described as male and female imagines, while P.(T) majiis Lehmann, P.(T) subovatum Freeman, R(T) Kriscoguttatum Kieffer, P.(T) aferum Lehmann and P(T) kijabense Freeman are re-described as male imagines only. Keys to the male and the known female imagines of the 30 Afrotropical species in the subgenus are presented. A phylogenetic analysis based on all available information on Tripodura from all over the world (13 5 species) is presented and discussed. The monophyly of the subgenus Tripodura is confirmed. The subgenus can be divided into 20 groups with the acifer group forming the sister group of two larger assemblages of groups in the order acifer (titicacae (ginzansecundum ((aferum (ewei (mwalickiamum (floridense (halterale, pullum)))))) (subovatum (labeculosum ((parascalaemum (allansoni (apfelbecki (udominatum) quinqueguttarum) annulatipes)). Only in the tittum, parvum))))) ((((alboguttatum, aegyptium) icacae, halterale, pullum and apfelbecki groups are the larvae of more than one species described, while one larva is known in each of the subovatum, parascalaenum, aegyptium and quinqueguttatum groups. Three or more pupae are known only from the halterale, pullum, apfelbecki and aegyptium groups. Thus, the tentative nature of the group divisions is obvious. Geographical co-evolutionary analyses (Brooks parsimony analyses) of the subgenus as a whole and of the major groups are performed and the areas most likely to be part of the original areas estimated. Most probably, eastern South America and Africa were part of the ancestral area. There are multiple sister-group relationships and generalized tracks between South and East Asia and Africa, between Africa and the Palaearctic region, between South and East Asia, between tropical Brazil and Africa, between East Asia and North America across a former Beringian land bridge, and between the Indo-West Pacific region and New Zealand, but no evidence for transantarctic relationships.