Phylogeny of Judolia Mulsant, 1863 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Judolia Mulsant, 1863 is a small Holarctic genus, the range of which covers Europe, North and East Asia and North America. Within the range there are several centers of diversification, to which species characterized by significant morphological differences are confined. This indicates the relict nature of the genus as a whole and its complex phylogeographic and evolutionary history. Because of this, the taxonomy of the genus remains problematic and unresolved. In modern morpho-taxonomic publications, there are two radically opposite visions of Judolia: 1) genus is monophyletic and 2) genus is polyphyletic. While publications on molecular phylogeny always note the monophyletic nature of the genus Judolia. The aim of the current study is to finally resolve the taxonomic debate surrounding Judolia by combining advanced molecular phylogenetic and classical morphological methods. The key result of our study was the confirmation of the monophyletic view of Judolia by means of single- and multigene phylogenetic analysis. For single-gene analysis, 658 nucleotide fragments of the 1st subunit of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COI) gene were used. A combination of consensus sequences of two mitochondrial (16s rRNA, COI) and one nuclear (28S rRNA) genes was used for multigene analysis. As a result, the most likelihood phylogenetic trees with a high degree of branch support were obtained. Topographically, the phylogenetic trees are divided into three large clades, which represent three morphologically distinct groups of the genus Judolia. The synthesis of molecular and morphological data allowed establishing the intrageneric structure of Judolia, dividing it into four subgenera: Pachytodes nom. & stat. res., Florijudolia subgen. nov., Judolia, Sierrojudolia subgen. nov. In addition, the genetic and morphological similarity of the genera Oedecnema and Judolidia became decisive for their assignment to the subgenus Judolia. In turn, the subgenus Judolia is divided into four infragenera: Boreojudolia infragen. nov., Oedecnema stat. nov., Judolia, Judolidia stat. nov. A new scheme of the intrageneric taxonomy of Judolia is also presented, as well as keys to its identification.