Systematic Entomology最新文献

Flightless insects distributed on islands are often characterized by dynamic evolutionary patterns, high endemism, and complex biogeographic histories, imposing challenges for integrative systematics. In this study, we explore the evolutionary history and biogeography of moss-inhabiting flea beetles from the genus Ivalia in the Taiwan-Ryukyu archipelago. Using phylogenomic data from 1649 ddRAD-sequenced nuclear loci with 50,461 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, we uncovered a complex biogeographic history shaped by Late Miocene vicariance and subsequent Pliocene dispersal events from Taiwan. Our results suggest that Ivalia populations on Amamioshima and Taiwan originated through vicariance from a Miocene continental ancestor, whereas other Ryukyu populations represent more recent colonizations from Taiwan. Within Taiwan, we identify an extensive species radiation – the Ivalia uenoi complex – characterized by high species diversity and endemism. Within this complex, we found striking mitonuclear discordance, likely driven by repeated mitochondrial introgression. This discordance led to erroneous species delimitations based on mitochondrial DNA barcoding. In contrast, species delimitation based on nuclear markers was congruent with putative species assignments based on rough morphological examinations. Moreover, we found signs of nuclear introgression events in the ancient history of the Taiwanese Ivalia. Our findings highlight Ivalia as a compelling case of island radiation shaped by dynamic evolutionary processes and underscore the critical role of integrative taxonomic frameworks in insect systematics.

Chloropidae is one of the most species-rich families among acalyptrate flies, comprising approximately 3000 described species across 198 genera worldwide. Using molecular data from six genes (four mitochondrial gene fragments: COI, CytB, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA and two nuclear gene fragments: 28S rRNA, CAD), we reconstructed the phylogeny of Chloropidae and provided the first time-calibrated phylogeny of the family. Our analyses strongly support the monophyly of Chloropidae and reveal the following inter-subfamily relationships: (Siphonellopsinae + (Chloropinae + (Oscinellinae + Rhodesiellinae))). Notably, Siphonellopsinae monophyly requires further testing as only one representative genus was included. We compared our results of Elachipterini (Oscinellinae) with recent morphological phylogeny. Our results validated Discadrema and Togeciphus as distinct genera. Marginal-likelihood estimations identified a Yule tree prior with 12 unlinked molecular clocks as the optimal BEAST model. Divergence time estimates place the Chloropidae crown age at 43.7 million years ago (Ma), with rapid subfamily diversification occurring around 42 Ma during the mid-Paleogene.

Libelluloidea is the most species-rich superfamily within dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera), yet intrafamilial relationships have remained contested for the past 150 years. Here we present a phylogenetic hypothesis for two families within Libelluloidea which together form a complex of distantly related lineages, Corduliidae s.l. (Emeralds) and Synthemistidae s.l. (Tigertails) based on comprehensive taxon sampling at species level (Corduliidae: 141/165 spp., Synthemistidae: 123/150 spp.) for which we generated anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) high-throughput molecular sequences (10–1054 loci). Furthermore, we combined our molecular dataset with 100 discrete morphological characters based on wing, body, nymphal and genital characters. Using our molecular data, and an evaluation of morphological characters via ancestral character state reconstruction, we propose a new classification for these taxa. Here, three new families are erected: Aeschnosomatidae fam. nov.; Lauromacromiidae fam. nov.; Macromidiidae fam. nov.; and the status is revised for six families: Austrocorduliidae Bechly, 1996 stat. rev.; Gomphomacromiidae Tillyard & Fraser, 1940 stat. rev.; Idionychidae Tillyard & Fraser, 1940 stat. rev.; Idomacromiidae Tillyard & Fraser, 1940 stat. rev.; Neophyidae Tillyard & Fraser, 1940 stat. rev.; and Pseudocorduliidae Lohmann, 1996 stat. rev. Furthermore, we synonymized Procordulia Martin, 1907, with the genus Hemicordulia Selys, 1870. Finally, we recover five enigmatic taxa (Archaeophya Fraser, 1959, Libellulosoma Martin, 1907, Austrophya Tillyard, 1909, Apocordulia Watson, 1980 and Cordulisantosia Fleck & Costa, 2007) for which no molecular data was previously available within these families with revised status or new with high support using a total-evidence approach. Character state reconstructions revealed widespread homology among traditional characters used to identify groups within each family. We estimate the ancestral Libelluloidea possessed an ovuloid anal loop, prominent uniform labial palp dentition in the nymphs and a reduced ovipositor. Finally, time-divergence analyses estimate Libelluloidea to have originated within the Early Cretaceous, with subsequent families diversifying throughout the Cenozoic.

Gyriosomus is a genus of charismatic tenebrionids endemic to Chile, commonly known as vaquitas del desierto’. They are distributed from ~25° S to ~34° S, almost exclusively within the Coquimban Biogeographic Province. They are notable for the explosive and massive appearance of adults associated with blooming desert events in Atacama. Since their initial description in 1834, 44 species have been classified, but the genus has not undergone a comprehensive systematic revision. Using molecular markers, taxonomic issues related to the use of morphological characters have recently been identified. In this study, we evaluated the phylogenetic relationships within Gyriosomus and the congruence of the current taxonomic scenario with our results. We conducted an exhaustive sampling across the entire distribution range of the genus. Specifically, we reconstructed a molecular phylogeny based on four genes (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I ‘COI’, wingless ‘Wg’, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase ‘CAD’ and 28S ribosomal RNA ‘28S’) with 41 of the 44 described species and performed unilocus and multilocus molecular species delimitation analyses. The phylogenetic analyses indicate that the 45 genetically evaluated species are organized into nine distinct clades. Only half of the previously described species were validated by the molecular species delimitation analyses. The rest are likely new candidate species, with some potentially being synonyms. External morphology alone may not be sufficient to support the taxonomy due to the plasticity of these characters. We also found a zone of ‘High Cladistic Sympatry’, inhabited by representatives of different clades. In this zone, we encountered polymorphic and cryptic species and a high degree of convergence between clades, which complicates the study of these darkling beetles.

Noctuidae are one of the largest and taxonomically most challenging families of Lepidoptera, with more than 12,000 species. Earlier phylogenetic studies using a limited number of molecular markers have helped in resolving evolutionary relationships within Noctuidae, but many groups have still received very little attention. A phylogenomic tree of Noctuidae was inferred using 333 species with the help of the anchored hybrid enrichment method of sequencing, focusing on northern European fauna. The final data matrix comprised fragments of 548 protein-coding genes and totaled 249,138 nucleotides. Though the results largely support earlier hypotheses on the phylogenetic structure of Noctuidae, several cases were revealed where updates to the current taxonomy of the family are required. These include upgrading former tribe Prodeniini Forbes to subfamily Prodeniinae (stat. rev.) and former subtribe Poliina Beck to tribe Poliini (stat. rev.), sinking former subtribe Cosmiina Guenée into Xylenina Guenée (syn. n.), moving Xylocampa Guenée from Amphipyrinae to Oncocnemidinae Forbes & Franclemont, synonymising Cornutiplusia Kostrowicki with Autographa Hübner (syn. n.), Epilecta Hübner with Noctua Linnaeus (syn. n.), Cryptocala Benjamin with Noctua (syn. rev.) and Senta Stephens with Leucania Ochsenheimer (syn. rev.). Pseudaletia Franclemont (stat. rev.) and Aneda Sukhareva (stat. rev.) are elevated to full genera, Coenophila Stephens is downgraded to subgenus of Xestia Hübner (stat. n.) and Anorthoa Berio to subgenus of Orthosia Ochsenheimer (stat. rev.). These changes led to several new or revised combinations: Autographa circumflexa (Linnaeus) (comb. rev.), Noctua linogrisea Denis & Schiffermüller (comb. rev.), Noctua chardinyi (Boisduval) (comb. rev.), Leucania flammea (Curtis) (comb. rev.), Pseudaletia separata (Walker) (comb. rev.), Aneda rivularis (Fabricius) (comb. rev.), Xestia subrosea (Stephens) (comb. n.) and Orthosia munda (Denis & Schiffermüller) (comb. rev.). Several further conflicts with the current classification requiring further studies were highlighted.

Recent advances in Computer Vision, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Vision Transformers (ViTs) and Large Language Models (LLMs) suggest it may be possible to mimic the ability to decode knowledge about morphology and taxonomy to describe species in an automated way. Here, for the first time, we test a state-of-the-art Vision Language Model (VLM) that combines ViTs and LLMs to approximate taxonomic species descriptions automatically. The test uses a new graphical user interface, Descriptron, which gathers data about biological images and transmits this specialised knowledge to a VLM (GPT-4o) to decode morphological features. Our results indicate that GPT-4o can produce draft taxonomic species descriptions using taxonomist-defined morphological features, although the model still requires supervision to avoid erroneous text predictions. Despite that, the time saved using Descriptron is already significant. The Descriptron programme, with example prompts, is free under an Apache2 License from GitHub; https://github.com/alexrvandam/Descriptron.

With 325 currently recognized species, Anastrepha (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the largest genus of fruit flies within the American tropics and subtropics. It also includes the most economically important pest species in the region, some that have invaded the US and others that remain serious threats to U.S. agriculture. As part of a large collaborative effort to better understand Anastrepha species diversity and interrelationships and to address the need for new genetic data for integrated identification systems, we developed a new phylogenetic tree of Anastrepha species and species groups from anchored hybrid enrichment phylogenomics to serve as a reference system and diagnostic data resource. We captured and analysed 293 orthologous nuclear loci for 728 Anastrepha individuals representing 237 species, as well as from seven outgroup Tephritidae. These data strongly support the monophyly of most of the previously recognized Anastrepha species groups, while also revealing new support for previously unknown relationships among species, some previously unassigned, and species groups. Our results confirm that the fraterculus cryptic species complex is polyphyletic and delimit 7–8 lineages, not all of which match the current morph concepts. They also suggest that the Mexican morph and Anastrepha zenildae Zucchi are conspecific. Our results provide a useful framework for understanding the history of this major radiation of fruit-infesting flies and indicate the closest relatives of the pest species to give new perspective on their biology and behaviour. They also provide a large genome-wide nuclear gene resource for potential use as identification markers and phylogenetic placement loci for pest and non-pest species and populations.

Veromessor Forel is a genus of seed-harvesting ants endemic to arid and semi-arid regions of western North America. Despite comprising only 10 described species, Veromessor exhibits striking ecological and morphological diversity, including variation in colony size, foraging strategies, mating phenology and colony founding modes. Two species have long served as models in behavioural and ecological research, yet their evolutionary relationships and trait diversification remain poorly understood. We reconstruct a comprehensive phylogeny of Veromessor using ultraconserved elements (UCEs), including multiple populations from all known species. The resulting phylogeny is well supported and robust across analyses, with maximal support for all inter-species relationships except the placement of the V. chicoensis plus V. stoddardi pair. This uncertainty yields three alternative topologies, with support for each ranging from 30% to 93% of the maximum. Molecular species delimitation shows general agreement between genomic and morphological species boundaries. Analysis of trait evolution reveals that key ecological and morphological features in Veromessor have evolved rapidly and repeatedly in response to habitat, with a stronger correlation to ecological conditions than to phylogenetic ancestry. We also test whether colony founding polymorphism in V. pergandei and colour polymorphisms in V. andrei and V. julianus indicate incipient speciation but find little phylogenetic signal, except for subtle colour variation in V. julianus. Biogeographic models suggest considerable uncertainty about the ancestral range of Veromessor, but the Mojave Desert and California Floristic Province together emerge as likely. This study integrates phylogenomics with ecological and morphological data to illuminate the evolution of an ecologically important ant genus.

Despite the need to describe Earth's biodiversity, some species groups are notoriously challenging to classify. One example is the genus Plebejus Kluk (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae), which has been the subject of taxonomic debate for decades. Numerous studies have been conducted in North America, but European taxa remain underexplored at the genomic level. To fill this gap, we analysed a ddRAD sequencing dataset comprising all European Plebejus taxa and a selection of Asian and North American ones. Plebejus argus (Linnaeus), Plebejus argyrognomon (Bergsträsser) and Plebejus bellieri (Oberthür) are each recovered as monophyletic with limited gene flow, supporting their species status. Plebejus idas (Linnaeus) is paraphyletic, highlighting the need for a revision of the genus at the Holarctic level. Plebejus corsicus (Bellier) presents clear but limited genetic divergence and should be considered a subspecies of Pl. argus, whereas Plebejus villai (Jutzeler, Leigheb, Manil, Villa & Volpe) is not divergent from Pl. bellieri and should be considered a population of the latter. Pl. argus and Pl. idas present geographic structure following the southern peninsulas, with central and northern European populations clustering with the Balkans, consistent with a scenario of southern glacial refugia and posterior range expansion. We also find widespread Wolbachia Hertig infection across all species except for Pl. argus, with low variation levels in the Wolbachia loci. Lastly, we find evidence of increasing inbreeding levels in mainland Plebejus populations, especially in Eastern Europe, which may be due to land abandonment and agricultural intensification.