La filogenesi degli esapodi basali, aspetti controversi e recenti acquisizioni

The application of novel techniques in molecular phylogenetics has opened to the study and critical reevaluation of the phylogenetic relationships among many and different animal groups, including arthropods. Such studies have sometimes produced reconstructions that are in conflict with well supported morphological phylogenies and have seldom lead to a reevaluation and/or dismission of phylogenetic hypotheses widely supported in the past. In this contribution, the most important results of molecular phylogenetics on the phylogeny of hexapods are presented, with special reference to the relationships among basal hexapod groups. Special attention is given to supra-ordinal relationships and monophily of five relevant groups (the “apterygotes”: Protura, Collembola, Diplura, Microcoryphia e Zygentoma), that constitute some among the most hotly debated issues in arthropod phylogeny. Areas of consensus/conflict between phylogenies obtained based on molecular and morphological data are further identified.