This document summarizes a PhD thesis on the morphophylogeny of 41 sand fly species of medical importance using different data sources. The study used traditional morphology data, wing and head landmark data from geometric morphometrics, and DNA sequence data to generate phylogenetic trees. The best tree was produced using all data blocks and showed good support for relationships within the Lutzomyiina subtribe and the Bichoromyia genus based on head morphology and molecular synapomorphies. Comparisons of trees from different data blocks showed that wing landmarks were important but that all blocks together provided the best phylogenetic hypothesis. Relationships of some groups were consistent with previous studies using multiple genetic markers. This study was the first to combine different character blocks

1. Morphophylogeny in 41 sand flies species
(Diptera: Phlebotominae) of medical importance
PhD. Jonathan Liria
Grupo de investigación en Población y Ambiente, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam, Napo –
Ecuador. Centro de Estudios en Zoología Aplicada, Universidad de Carabobo. Carabobo –
Venezuela. Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Zoonosis y Salud Pública, Universidad
Central del Ecuador – Ecuador. Email: jonathan.liria@ikiam.edu.ec
Blog: cladisticaybiogeografia.blogspot.com

2. INTRODUCTION
Sand flies are the main vectors of
Leishmaniasis:
http://leishmania.ird.fr/country
https://www.who.int/gho/neglected_diseases/leishmaniasis/en/
Phylogeny...
• Traditional discrete data (morphology)
• Molecular data
Geometric morphometrics…

3. MATERIAL AND METHODS
•Tree comparisons:
-SPR
-RF
-CI
Taxonomy tree
All data best tree
MRP tree
•Data blocks:
-Traditional morphometrics (19 ch; X ± SD)
-Wing landmarks (1 ch; 12 LMs)
Minimizing linear diff acording S. ghesquierei
-Head landmarks (1 ch; 7 LMs)
Minimizing linear diff acording S. ghesquierei
-Cytochrome Oxidase I (699 ch)
MAFFT alignment
•Search parameters:
TNT
-All blocks
-Excluding one block at time
-Analizing only one block
•OUTgroups: Sergentomyiina, 1 genus:
Sergentomyia 2 sp.
•INgroup: Lutzomyiina, 10 genera: 39 spp.
•Character mapping:
T r e e 0 , c h a r . 1 8 , 1 2 p o i n t s ( s c o r e : 6 . 8 0 5 5 8 )
T r _ u b i q u i t a l i s
S c _ f l u v i a t i l i s
P y _ w e l l c o m e i
P y _ s q u a m i v e n t r i s _ s q u a m i v e n t r i s
P y _ s q u a m i v e n t r i s _ m a r i p a e n s i s
P y _ c l a u s t r e i
P y _ c h a g a s i
P i _ y o u n g i
P i _ v e r r a c a r u m
P i _ t o w n s e n d i
P i _ t o r v i d a
P i _ o v a l l e s i
P i _ e v a n s i
P i _ c o l u m b i a n a
P i _ c h r i s t o p h e i
N y _ y l e p h i l e t o r
N y _ u m b r a t i l i s
N y _ o l m e c a _ o l m e c a
N y _ o l m e c a _ n o c i v a
N y _ o l m e c a _ b i c o l o r
N y _ i n t e r m e d i a
N y _ a n t u n e s i
N y _ a n d u z e i
L u _ d i a b o l i c a
L u _ c r u c i a t a
L u _ p e r u e n s i s
L u _ a y a c u c h e n s i s
D a _ a n t h o p h o r a
B i _ r e d u c t a
S e _ c o l l a r t i
S e _ g h e s q u i e r e i
P y _ p a r a e n s i s
P y _ c a r r e r a i
P s _ s h a n n o n i
P i _ p e s s o a i
P i _ n u n e z t o v a r i
N y _ f l a v i s c u t e l l a t a
L u _ g o m e z i
L u _ l o n g i p a l p i s
L u _ h a r t m a n n i
E v _ p i n o t t i i
Head
Wing
PAST: Configurations
tpsspline
RAS-TBR

4. RESULTS
Node 46
Lutzomyiina
(Head + COI)
All blocks best tree (L=1734.92 steps)
Node 49
(Wing)
T r e e 0 :
T r _ u b i q u i t a l i s
S c _ f l u v i a t i l i s
P y _ w e l l c o m e i
P y _ s q u a m i v e n t r i s _ s q u a m i v e n t r i s
P y _ s q u a m i v e n t r i s _ m a r i p a e n s i s
P y _ c l a u s t r e i
P y _ c h a g a s i
P i _ y o u n g i
P i _ v e r r u c a r u m
P i _ t o w n s e n d i
P i _ t o r v i d a
P i _ o v a l l e s i
P i _ e v a n s i
P i _ c o l u m b i a n a
P i _ c h r i s t o p h e i
N y _ y l e p h i l e t o r
N y _ u m b r a t i l i s
B i _ o l m e c a _ o l m e c a
B i _ o l m e c a _ n o c i v a
B i _ o l m e c a _ b i c o l o r
N y _ i n t e r m e d i a
N y _ a n t u n e s i
N y _ a n d u z e i
L u _ d i a b o l i c a
L u _ c r u c i a t a
L u _ p e r u e n s i s
L u _ a y a c u c h e n s i s
D a _ a n t h o p h o r a
B i _ r e d u c t a
S e _ c o l l a r t i
S e _ g h e s q u i e r e i
P y _ p a r a e n s i s
P y _ c a r r e r a i
P s _ s h a n n o n i
P i _ p e s s o a i
P i _ n u n e z t o v a r i
B i _ f l a v i s c u t e l l a t a
L u _ g o m e z i
L u _ l o n g i p a l p i s
L u _ h a r t m a n n i
E v _ p i n o t t i i
Wing
Head
Node 68
Bichoromyia
(Head + COI)
Tree
Comparisons
(% similarity):
All blocks:
73% wings
Taxonomy:
62% wings
MRP:
43% wings

5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The most parsimonious tree found with all blocks showed the best taxonomy fit in Lutzomyiina
subtribe (0.80) and Bichoromyia genus (0.80); these clades are supported by synapomorphies
in head morphometrics and molecular data: Landmark displacements of fronto-clypeal region in
Lutzomyiina and Bichoromyia.
Tree topology comparisons showed that wing landmarks are important character blocks.
However, we consider that all blocks are needed for a better cladistics hypothesis explanation
in this group because some characters or combined blocks support internal clades.
The sand flies relationships in some groups were similar to those of Grace-Lema et al. (2015);
e.g. the monophyly of Lutzomyiina. They used eight molecular markers: Cac, COI, CytB, EF-
1a, ITS, LR, ND4, and Para.
Our results are preliminary, however, this is the first attempt to combining different character
blocks in Phlebotominae. And reveals the importance of geometric morphometrics used in
parsimony context.