Phylogeny of Geophilomorpha (Chilopoda) inferred from new morphological and molecular evidence
To address the phylogenetic relationships of the centipede order Geophilomorpha (more than 1000 species), we have reinterpreted and expanded the knowledge on their morphological disparity, and have doubled the amount of molecular data available. We performed maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses, using 195 phylogenetically informative morphological characters for 80 species, and DNA sequences of 28S, 18S, 16S rRNA and COI for up to 48 species. We found strong support for the monophyly of Geophilomorpha, the basal dichotomy between Adesmata and Placodesmata = Mecistocephalidae, and the basal dichotomy within Adesmata between two clades that are recognized here as superfamilies Himantarioidea and Geophiloidea. With respect to the families currently in use, Himantarioidea comprises three well supported clades corresponding to (i) Oryidae, (ii) Himantariidae, and (iii) Schendylidae s.l. including Ballophilidae; Geophiloidea comprises another three supported clades corresponding to (iv) a new family Zelanophilidae, (v) Gonibregmatidae s.l. including Eriphantidae and Neogeophilidae, and (vi) Geophilidae s.l. including Aphilodontidae, Dignathodontidae, Linotaeniidae, and Macronicophilidae.