A Preliminary Phylogenetic Study on the Systematics of Lycocerus Gorham (Coleoptera: Cantharidae)

The genus Lycocerus Gorham, 1889 is a highly speciose group of Asian soldier beetles. Okushima (2005) divided this genus into several species groups and presumed their potential phylogenetic relationship based on anatomical comparison, and a few more species groups were subsequently proposed by various authors. In this study, I reinvestigated the relationship within Lycocerus using phylogenetic analyses of morphological data and extended the taxa sampling to corroborate all currently known major lineages. The resulting topology only partially agrees with Okushima (2005), but supports the synonymy of Athemus Lewis, 1895, Athemellus Wittmer, 1972, Mikadocantharis Wittmer & Magis, 1978, Andrathemus Wittmer, 1978 and lsathemus Wittmer, 1995 with Lycocerus.