Placement of Conopidae (Diptera) within Schizophora based on mtDNA and nrDNA gene regions

The first attempt to phylogenetically place Conopidae using molecular characters, as well as the largest molecular analysis of relationships within Schizophora (Diptera) to date, is presented. Twenty-eight taxa from 11 acalyptrate families and seven acalyptrate superfamilies are represented. Nearly 12,800 bp of sequence data from 10 genes representing both mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase I (COI), cytochrome b (cytB), and 12S) and nuclear genes (28S, the carbamoyl phosphate synthetase region of CAD (CAD), elongation factor-1α (EF-1α), white, alanyl-tRNA synthetase (AATS), triose phosphate isomerase (TPI), and phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGD)) are analysed. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses strongly support the monophyly of both Conopidae and Schizophora. While in the parsimony analysis, Conopidae are placed as sister to the remaining Schizophora, the Bayesian analysis recovers a Conopidae + Lauxaniidae clade. The value of nuclear, mitochondrial, ribosomal, and protein-coding gene sequence data for answering phylogenetic questions at different levels of divergence is evaluated.