Phylogenetic Analysis: Character Matrix and Cladogram Construction of Selected Species in the Family Pieridae, Lycaenidae, and Scoliidae

Cladograms are diagrams utilized in cladistics, grouping organisms together based on their shared derived characteristics. It shows the hypothetical relationships between clades, forming the phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetics provides an evaluation of the path that links a modern organism to its ancestral origin. Insects rule all terrestrial ecosystems. From a wider perspective, studying insect evolution is critical to understanding the evolution of life. Therefore, the principal aims of this laboratory report are to determine and study the ancestral relationships among the five (5) selected insect taxa from the previous laboratory activity. For the ingroup, Appias libythea, Leptosia nina, Zizina Otis, Zizeeria knysna, and Campsomeriella thoracica were chosen, while Acanthocoris scabrator was for the outgroup. Subsequently, five (5) characters and character states of those selected taxa were tabulated to form the character matrix for cladogram construction and phylogenetic analysis. In conclusion, the Appias libythea is the most advanced species out of the five selected insect taxa with Lepotosia nina being closely related to it since both are from Pieridae family. Meanwhile, Zizina Otis and Zizeeria knysna from the Lycaenidae family are closely related but distantly related to A. libythea and L. nina. Lastly, the Campsomeriella thoracica from the family Scoliidae exhibited similar characteristics with the hypothetical ancestor-Acanthocoris scabrator.