Insights from the first phylogenomic analysis of flat wasps (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae) reveal two new subfamilies

In spite of significant advances in alpha level taxonomy in the past few decades, the higher-level phylogeny of flat wasps (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae) remains poorly explored. Herein we provide the first phylogenomic assessment of the family based on data from ultraconserved elements (UCEs) for 96 species in 61 genera of the family, with material from @ countries and all biogeographic regions. Dataset cutoffs including UCE loci recovered for 50% and 70% of terminals resulted in matrices with 1,513 and 451 loci, which were analyzed in both parsimony and maximum likelihood frameworks. We also provide the first analyses of divergence dating for the family based on the calibration of 11 nodes. All analyses recovered the Bethylidae as a monophyletic group and estimated the origin of the family at around 143 million years ago. The results suggest that all extant subfamilies had already diversified by the Late Cretaceous. All topologies suggest that Glenosema and Chilepyris form a clade separate from other Scleroderminae; due to the morphological distinctiveness of each genus, we propose that they are accommodated in two new subfamilies Glenoseminae subf. nov. and Chilepyrinae subf. nov. The sclerodermine Galadoxa torquata was consistently recovered within Epyrinae and is transferred to the latter subfamily.