Outgroup Selection

The selection of outgroups was directly informed by a previous analysis (published in 2006). Type species were chosen in each case. Notolomus is the only taxon placed outside of the Phyllotrogina and therefore the root of the cladogram. Two species of Terioltes, the presumed sister taxon, were included, in the hope of highlighting the synapomorphies of a Cotithene-Terioltes clade as well as the synapomorphies for the species included in each separate genus. Cyclanthura and Ganglionus round out the outgroup, each representing relatively ancestral life habits within their clade.

Systenotelus was excluded - its members have several life history convergences that would introduce uninformative homoplasy into the analysis of Cotithene species relationships. All these choices were made in reference to the previous cladistic analysis.