Phylogenetic relationships of phlebotomine sandflies inferred from small subunit nuclear ribosomal DNA

Relationships among seventy specimens, fifteen species and three genera of phlebotomines were inferred from the phylogenetic analysis of small subunit nuclear rDNA, obtained by the PCR amplification and cloning of almost full -length genes. Outgroups included fifteen dipterans, and single representat ives of four other insect orders. The more distant the taxa compared, the l arger were the regions of ambiguous sequence alignment that needed to be de leted in order to avoid circularity in performing parsimony analyses. Phleb otomine sequences formed a monophyletic clade within the suborder Nematocer a, with the progressively more basal sister groups of Diptera being Culicom orpha, Tipulomorpha and the suborder Brachycera. Within Phlebotominae, subg eneric relationships were resolved and the genus Phlebotomus was shown to b e monophyletic, but markers for intraspecific geographical populations were not found and intergeneric relationships were not resolved.