Morphology-based phylogeny of longhorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) aligns with phylogenomics and informs...

We present a morphology-based backbone phylogeny of Cerambycidae beetles inferred by parsimony analyses using 77 adult characters scored for 101 species. This phylogeny is largely consistent with recent phylogenomic studies regarding key placements (e.g., Parandrini stat. rev. within Prioninae, Necydalini stat. rev. within Lepturinae, the sister-group relationship of Cerambycinae with Prioninae (including Parandrini), the monophyly of Saperdini, the non-monophyly of some Lamiinae tribes), while differing primarily in the position of Lamiinae. By testing various character and taxon-sampling partitions we revealed that some of the most variable external characters and all genital characters (without exploring aedeagal internal sac) have low phylogenetic signal, but still the more inclusive analyses are the most robust. Across all our analyses, Cerambycidae s.l. are consistently recovered as monophyletic, with Disteniinae stat. rev., Vesperinae stat. rev., and Oxypeltinae stat. rev. placed inside or adjacent to the core Cerambycidae s.s. clade depending on character sampling. Our results highlight the strength of phylogenomics in providing a robust framework for higher-level relationships, but also emphasize that morphology-based analyses remain indispensable for identifying and interpreting the character systems that define those relationships. This study exemplifies complementarity of morphological and genomic evidence, while providing a broad morphology-based phylogenetic analysis of Cerambycidae.