Phylogenetic relationships among the Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea): a reassessment of Shi et al. (2005).

Phylogenetic relationships among the Braconidae have been a source of contention, debate, and uncertainty for many years. This uncertainty has been evident in the conXicting relationships and lack of resolution obtained from various morphological (van Achterberg, 1984; Quicke and van Achterberg, 1990; Wharton et al., 1992) and molecular datasets (Dowton et al., 1998; Belshaw et al., 1998; Dowton et al., 2002). Recently, Shi et al. (2005) analyzed a large morphological and multi-gene dataset. The morphological components of their dataset were compiled from the previously published works of Quicke and van Achterberg (1990) and modiWed by van Achterberg and Quicke (1992) and Dowton et al. (2002). Their molecular dataset was compiled from published sequences from GenBank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and seven new sequences provided by the authors. The combined dataset was the largest employed in a systematic analysis of the Braconidae. However, the analysis performed by Shi et al. (2005) contained several methodological and conceptual errors. The purpose of the present paper is to address these errors, attempt to reproduce the original dataset, and oVer a re-analysis of the molecular dataset in hopes to further the present knowledge of relationships among the Braconidae.