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Phylogenetic Analysis of Scarabaeidae Taxa
Research Guide

What is Phylogenetic Analysis of Scarabaeidae Taxa?

Phylogenetic analysis of Scarabaeidae taxa uses multi-locus phylogenomics and cladistic methods to reconstruct evolutionary relationships within Scarabaeidae subfamilies, including dung beetles.

Researchers apply DNA sequence data from nuclear genes and morphological characters to resolve Scarabaeidae phylogenies (McKenna et al., 2015, 523 citations). Key studies include Bayesian and parsimony analyses enhanced by ontology-based partitioning (Tarasov and Génier, 2015, 154 citations) and multigene analyses redefining Scarabaeinae classification (Tarasov and Dimitrov, 2016, 110 citations). Over 10 major papers since 2002 address monophyly testing and taxonomic revisions.

Curated Papers

Key Challenges

Why It Matters

Phylogenetic analyses enable taxonomic revisions of Scarabaeidae, revealing cryptic diversity in biodiverse regions like Madagascar (Orsini et al., 2007). Accurate trees support biogeographic studies, such as historical patterns in scarabaeine dung beetles (Davis et al., 2002) and Sericini origins (Eberle et al., 2016). These insights advance conservation and ecological modeling of dung beetles as keystone species in pastures (Tissiani et al., 2017).

Key Research Challenges

Conflicting Phylogenies

Thirteen recent phylogenies conflict on Scarabaeinae higher-level relationships due to varying gene sets and morphological interpretations (Tarasov and Génier, 2015). Resolving these requires integrated multi-locus data. McKenna et al. (2015) highlight survival through mass extinctions but subfamily details remain disputed.

Sampling Bias in Megadiverse Groups

Megadiverse tribes like Sericini suffer from incomplete taxonomy and undescribed species, biasing biogeographic analyses (Eberle et al., 2016). Poor classification introduces a priori errors in area cladograms. Tarasov and Dimitrov (2016) note implications for ecological studies.

Morphological Character Partitioning

Traditional parsimony struggles with homoplasy in dung beetle morphology without ontology-based partitioning (Tarasov and Génier, 2015). Bayesian methods improve resolution but demand large datasets. Multigene approaches redefine classifications yet face data scarcity (Tarasov and Dimitrov, 2016).

Essential Papers

The beetle tree of life reveals that <scp>C</scp> oleoptera survived end‐ <scp>P</scp> ermian mass extinction to diversify during the <scp>C</scp> retaceous terrestrial revolution

Duane D. McKenna, Alexander L. Wild, Kojun Kanda et al. · 2015 · Systematic Entomology · 523 citations

Abstract Here we present a phylogeny of beetles ( I nsecta: C oleoptera) based on DNA sequence data from eight nuclear genes, including six single‐copy nuclear protein‐coding genes, for 367 species...

Weevils, weevils, weevils everywhere*

Rolf G. Oberprieler, Adriana E. Marvaldi, Robert S. Anderson · 2007 · Zootaxa · 332 citations

An overview is presented of the progress made on the taxonomy, classification and phylogeny of weevils in the 250 years since the first taxonomic descriptions of weevils by Carolus Linnaeus. The nu...

Biogeography of the Monte Desert

Fidel Antonio Roig, Sergio Roig‐Juñent, Valeria Corbalán · 2008 · Journal of Arid Environments · 175 citations

Innovative Bayesian and Parsimony Phylogeny of Dung Beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) Enhanced by Ontology-Based Partitioning of Morphological Characters

Sergei Tarasov, François Génier · 2015 · PLoS ONE · 154 citations

Scarabaeine dung beetles are the dominant dung feeding group of insects and are widely used as model organisms in conservation, ecology and developmental biology. Due to the conflicts among 13 rece...

Historical biogeography of scarabaeine dung beetles

Adrian L. V. Davis, Clarke H. Scholtz, T. Keith Philips · 2002 · Journal of Biogeography · 151 citations

Abstract Aim (1) To review briefly global biogeographical patterns in dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), a group whose evolutionary history has been dominated by ecological spec...

Multigene phylogenetic analysis redefines dung beetles relationships and classification (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Sergei Tarasov, Dimitar Dimitrov · 2016 · BMC Evolutionary Biology · 110 citations

The present study redefines dung beetles classification and gives new insight into their phylogeny. It has broad implications for the systematics as well as for various ecological and evolutionary ...

Dung beetles of Brazilian pastures and key to genera identification (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Ana Silvia de Oliveira Tissiani, Fernando Zagury Vaz‐de‐Mello, José Holanda Campelo-Júnior · 2017 · Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira · 61 citations

Abstract: The objective of this work was to elaborate supporting tools for the correct identification of Scarabaeidae, by an identification key of genera, and a commented list of the species presen...

Reading Guide

Foundational Papers

Start with McKenna et al. (2015, 523 citations) for the beetle tree of life context, then Davis et al. (2002, 151 citations) for scarabaeine biogeography, and Oberprieler et al. (2007, 332 citations) for Coleoptera taxonomy baseline.

Recent Advances

Study Tarasov and Dimitrov (2016, 110 citations) for Scarabaeinae reclassification, Tarasov and Génier (2015, 154 citations) for morphological innovations, and Eberle et al. (2016, 46 citations) for Sericini biogeography.

Core Methods

Core techniques are multi-locus phylogenomics from eight nuclear genes (McKenna et al., 2015), ontology-based partitioning for Bayesian/parsimony (Tarasov and Génier, 2015), and multigene maximum likelihood (Tarasov and Dimitrov, 2016).

How PapersFlow Helps You Research Phylogenetic Analysis of Scarabaeidae Taxa

Discover & Search

PapersFlow's Research Agent uses searchPapers and citationGraph to map Scarabaeidae phylogenies starting from McKenna et al. (2015, 523 citations), revealing 10+ connected papers on dung beetle evolution. exaSearch uncovers niche studies like Madagascar radiations (Orsini et al., 2007), while findSimilarPapers expands to related Coleoptera trees.

Analyze & Verify

Analysis Agent employs readPaperContent on Tarasov and Génier (2015) to extract ontology-partitioned morphological data, then runPythonAnalysis with NumPy for tree distance metrics and GRADE grading for evidence strength. verifyResponse (CoVe) cross-checks monophyly claims against McKenna et al. (2015) and Tarasov and Dimitrov (2016), flagging conflicts statistically.

Synthesize & Write

Synthesis Agent detects gaps in Scarabaeinae classification via contradiction flagging across Tarasov papers, generating exportMermaid diagrams of evolutionary trees. Writing Agent uses latexEditText and latexSyncCitations to draft revisions citing Davis et al. (2002), with latexCompile producing publication-ready manuscripts.

Use Cases

"Compute phylogenetic tree similarity between Tarasov 2015 and McKenna 2015 Scarabaeidae datasets"

Research Agent → searchPapers(Tarasov Génier) → Analysis Agent → readPaperContent + runPythonAnalysis(pandas tree comparison, matplotlib dendrogram) → statistical similarity scores and visualized Newick tree output.

"Draft LaTeX manuscript revising Scarabaeinae classification from multigene phylogenies"

Synthesis Agent → gap detection(Tarasov Dimitrov 2016) → Writing Agent → latexEditText(structured abstract) → latexSyncCitations(Davis 2002, McKenna 2015) → latexCompile → camera-ready PDF with embedded phylogeny figure.

"Find code for Bayesian phylogeny of dung beetles in provided papers"

Research Agent → paperExtractUrls(Tarasov Génier 2015) → Code Discovery → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → executable BEAST scripts and partitioned morphological datasets for Scarabaeidae analysis.

Automated Workflows

Deep Research workflow conducts systematic reviews of 50+ Scarabaeidae papers via searchPapers → citationGraph → structured report on subfamily monophyly (e.g., linking McKenna 2015 to Tarasov 2016). DeepScan applies 7-step analysis with CoVe checkpoints to verify biogeographic claims in Eberle et al. (2016). Theorizer generates hypotheses on post-Cretaceous radiations from Orsini et al. (2007) and Davis et al. (2002).

Try Doxa for Phylogenetic Analysis of Scarabaeidae Taxa Research

Frequently Asked Questions

What defines phylogenetic analysis of Scarabaeidae taxa?

It reconstructs evolutionary trees using multi-locus DNA data and cladistic methods to test subfamily monophyly, as in McKenna et al. (2015) and Tarasov and Dimitrov (2016).

What are key methods in Scarabaeidae phylogenetics?

Methods include eight nuclear genes phylogenomics (McKenna et al., 2015), Bayesian/parsimony with ontology-partitioned morphology (Tarasov and Génier, 2015), and multigene analysis (Tarasov and Dimitrov, 2016).

What are the most cited papers?

McKenna et al. (2015, 523 citations) on Coleoptera tree of life; Tarasov and Génier (2015, 154 citations) on dung beetle phylogeny; Tarasov and Dimitrov (2016, 110 citations) redefining Scarabaeinae.

What open problems exist?

Resolving conflicts among 13 phylogenies (Tarasov and Génier, 2015), overcoming sampling bias in megadiverse groups (Eberle et al., 2016), and integrating morphology with phylogenomics.