The Systematic Position of the Genus Nephrites and The Phylogenetic Relationships of the Higher Groups of Rhipiphoridae (Coleoptera)

Abstract

The genus Nephrites is a small and aberrant group of heteromerous Coleoptera found in Australia and Tasmania. Despite the fact that the genus has been described as new on four occasions in the course of the last century, its morphology has never been more than superficially studied. As a result, its relationships have been the subject of much misconception. During the greater part of its long and chaotic history Nephrites has been placed simultaneously, under two or more of its synonyms, in both the family Rhipiphoridae and the family Meloidae.