Sabrina Simon a,*, Bernd Schierwater a,b, Heike Hadrys a,c (2010)

On the value of Elongation factor-1α for reconstructing pterygote insect phylogeny

a ITZ, Ecology and Evolution, Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover,
   D-30559 Hannover, Germany
b American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY 10024, USA
c Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54 (2010) 651–656

Abstract
Pterygota are traditionally divided in two lineages, the ‘‘Palaeoptera” and Neoptera. Despite several
efforts neither morphology nor molecular systematics have resolved the phylogeny of the pterygote
insects. Too few markers have yet been identified for adequately tracking mesozoic-aged divergences.
We tested the Elongation factor-1a for its phylogenetic value in pterygote insect systematics. This highly
conserved nuclear protein-coding gene has previously been reported to be useful in other groups for
phylogenetic analyses at the intraordinal level as well as at the interordinal level. The analyses suggest
that EF-1a DNA sequences as well as intron positions provide informative markers for pterygote
phylogenetics.

 journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ympev

 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19853053