Data from: Molecular phylogeny of the burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae: Nicrophorinae)

Burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorus) are well-known for their monopolization of small vertebrate carcasses in subterranean crypts and complex biparental care behaviors. They have been the focus of intense behavioral, ecological, and conservation research since the 1980s yet no thorough phylogenetic estimate for the group exists. Herein, we infer relationships, test past hypotheses of relationships, and test biogeographic scenarios among 55 of the subfamily Nicrophorinae’s currently valid and extant 72 species. Two mitochondrial genes, COI and COII, and two nuclear genes, the D2 region of 28S, and the protein coding gene CAD, provided 3,971 nucleotides for 58 nicrophorine and 5 outgroup specimens. Ten partitions, with each modeled by GTR + I + G, were used for a 100 M generation MrBayes analysis and maximum likelihood bootstrapping with Garli. The inferred Bayesian phylogeny was mostly well-resolved with only three weak branches of biogeographic relevance. The common ancestor of the subfamily and of the genus Nicrophorus was reconstructed as Old World with four separate transitions to the New World and four reverse colonizations of the Old World from the New. Divergence dating from analysis with BEAST indicate the genus Nicrophorus originated in the Cretaceous, 127–99 Ma. Most prior, pre-cladistic hypotheses of relationships were strongly rejected while most modern hypotheses were largely congruent with monophyletic groups in our estimated phylogeny. Our results reject a recent hypothesis that Nicrophorus morio Gebler, 1817 (NEW STATUS as valid species) is a subspecies of N. germanicus (L., 1758). Two subgenera of Nicrophorus are recognized: NecroxenusSemenov-Tian-Shanskij, 1933, and NicrophorusFabricius, 1775.

埋葬甲（Silphidae: Nicrophorus）以其独占地下隐蔽洞穴内小型脊椎动物尸骸以及复杂的双亲抚育行为而闻名。自20世纪80年代以来，该类群一直是行为学、生态学与保护生物学研究的热点对象，但目前尚无针对该类群的全面系统发育研究。本研究针对葬甲亚科（Nicrophorinae）目前公认的72个现生物种中的55个，重建其系统发育关系，验证过往提出的系统发育假说，并检验相关生物地理情景。本研究选取2个线粒体基因（COI与COII）、2个核基因（28S rRNA的D2区以及蛋白编码基因CAD），为58个葬甲亚科标本与5个外类群标本共获得3971个核苷酸位点。研究采用10个序列分区，每个分区均采用GTR+I+G核苷酸替换模型，通过MrBayes软件进行100百万代的贝叶斯推断分析，并借助Garli软件实现最大似然法自助法检验。重建得到的贝叶斯系统发育树整体分辨率较高，仅存在3个与生物地理分析相关的弱支持分支。研究推断葬甲亚科及埋葬甲属的共同祖先起源于旧大陆，期间共发生4次独立的新大陆殖民事件，以及4次从新大陆回迁旧大陆的事件。基于BEAST软件的分化时间估算结果显示，埋葬甲属起源于白垩纪，时间约为127至99百万年前（Ma）。绝大多数早于支序分类学诞生的系统发育假说均被强烈否定，而多数现代系统发育假说则与本研究重建的系统发育树中的单系群基本一致。本研究结果否定了一项新近提出的假说：即认为1817年Gebler发表的埋葬甲（Nicrophorus morio Gebler, 1817，新恢复为有效物种）为1758年Linnaeus发表的德国埋葬甲（N. germanicus (L., 1758)）的亚种。本研究认可埋葬甲属下辖2个亚属：1933年Semenov-Tian-Shanskij建立的Necroxenus亚属，以及1775年Fabricius建立的埋葬甲亚属（Nicrophorus Fabricius, 1775）。