A molecular phylogeny of Porcellionidae (Isopoda, Oniscidea) reveals inconsistencies with present taxonomy

Porcellionidae is one of the richest families of Oniscidea globally distributed but we still lack a comprehensive and robust phylogeny of the taxa that are assigned to it. Employing five genetic markers (two mitochondrial and three nuclear) we inferred phylogenetic relationships among the majority of Porcellionidae genera. Phylogenetic analyses conducted via Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference resulted in similar tree topologies. The mtDNA genes cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and 16s rRNA (16s) were used for clade dating using previously published mutation rates. Our results provide evidence against the monophyly of both Porcellionidae and the largest genus of the family <i>Porcellio</i>. These results are compared to previous published work based on morphological evidence. The genera <i>Leptotrichus</i> and <i>Brevurus</i> are not grouped with the rest of Porcellionidae whereas Agnaridae are grouped with part of Porcellionidae. <i>Armadillidium</i> and <i>Schizidium</i> (Armadillidiidae) occupy a basal position on the phylogenetic tree. Even though the African genera <i>Tura</i> and <i>Uramba</i> (distributed in East Africa) are grouped together there is no general geographical pattern in other sub-clades. Additional taxonomic issues that arise in this work such as the assignment of the recently described genus <i>Levantoniscus</i>, arealso discussed. The status of Porcellionidae should be further revised and morphological characters traditionally used in Oniscidea taxonomy should be reconsidered in view of molecular evidence. The origin of the monophyletic clade within Porcellionidae as indicated in the present work is dated back to the Oligocene (~32 mya).