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Science 21 December 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5858, pp. 1913 - 1916
DOI: 10.1126/science.1146954
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Reports

A Comprehensive Phylogeny of Beetles Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of a Superradiation

Toby Hunt,1,2* Johannes Bergsten,1,2* Zuzana Levkanicova,3 Anna Papadopoulou,1,2 Oliver St. John,1,2 Ruth Wild,1,2 Peter M. Hammond,1 Dirk Ahrens,4 Michael Balke,1,4 Michael S. Caterino,1,5 Jesús Gómez-Zurita,1,6 Ignacio Ribera,7 Timothy G. Barraclough,2 Milada Bocakova,8 Ladislav Bocak,3 Alfried P. Vogler1,2{dagger}

Beetles represent almost one-fourth of all described species, and knowledge about their relationships and evolution adds to our understanding of biodiversity. We performed a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Coleoptera inferred from three genes and nearly 1900 species, representing more than 80% of the world's recognized beetle families. We defined basal relationships in the Polyphaga supergroup, which contains over 300,000 species, and established five families as the earliest branching lineages. By dating the phylogeny, we found that the success of beetles is explained neither by exceptional net diversification rates nor by a predominant role of herbivory and the Cretaceous rise of angiosperms. Instead, the pre-Cretaceous origin of more than 100 present-day lineages suggests that beetle species richness is due to high survival of lineages and sustained diversification in a variety of niches.

1 Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK.
2 Department of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK.
3 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, tr. Svobody 26, 77146 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
4 Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Münchhausenstrasse 21, 81247 München, Germany.
5 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93105–2998, USA.
6 Fisiologia i Biodiversitat Molecular, IBMB-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
7 Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
8 Department of Biology, Pedagogical Faculty, Palacky University, Purkrabska 2, 77140 Olomouc, Czech Republic.

* These authors contributed equally to the work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.vogler{at}imperial.ac.uk

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)