Systematic Entomology最新文献

Ancient origin and continental drift are commonly invoked to explain the worldwide distribution of poor dispersers, but this has not been thoroughly tested, including among most highly diversified groups. Here, we reconstructed the deep phylogeny of the globally distributed ant spiders (Zodariidae, >1300 species) through ~1000 Ultraconserved Elements (UCE-) loci from 76 of the 90 nominal genera plus multiple outgroups. We then estimated zodariids' diversification timeline using alternative methods and inferred its key biogeographic processes at the continental scale through ancestral range estimation and biogeographical stochastic mapping. Our robust phylogeny supports Zodariidae's monophyly, sister relationship with Penestomidae, and the subfamily classification—with Procydrela transferred to a new subfamily. Surprisingly, zodariids originated and diversified from the end of the Early Cretaceous onwards, after Earth's major landmasses separated. Multiple range changes between realms were inferred, all via jump dispersal, and most originating in the Afrotropics. Most routes were taken only once, except for increased connectivity between the Afrotropics, Madagascar and the Indomalayan regions. Of 14 jump dispersal events with reliably inferred routes, 10 were trans-oceanic whereas 3 were trans-climatic. We conclude that trans-oceanic dispersal was pivotal in zodariids' global distribution and diversification, giving origin to ~60% of its biota, and that climatic niche conservatism has limited trans-climatic colonization between land-connected regions. Our study provides a solid framework for interpreting additional aspects of zodariids' unique evolution. It also exemplifies how poor dispersers may overcome geographic barriers over sufficiently long timeframes, leading to remarkable diversification.

Cave crickets (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) are a globally distributed group of insects found in dark, humid microhabitats including natural caves, alpine scree, and forest litter. Ten extant subfamilies are currently recognised, of which Macropathinae, which comprises the entirety of the fauna in South America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, is thought to be the most ancient. New Zealand comprises high phylogenetic diversity of Rhaphidophoridae throughout its mesic zone, with most species occurring above ground. In contrast, the Australian fauna is poorly known and contains an apparently greater relative proportion of species utilising caves as refugia. A robust phylogenetic framework is needed to underpin future taxonomic work on the group and uncover potentially contrasting patterns of taxonomic diversity. Here, we performed fossil-calibrated phylogenetic analysis using whole mitochondrial genomes and nuclear markers to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Macropathinae with a focus on the Australian fauna. By dramatically increasing taxon sampling relative to past studies, we recovered the Australian fauna as rampantly polyphyletic, with the remaining Macropathinae nested among six distinct Australian lineages. Deep divergences between major clades imply additional Australian lineages remain undetected, either due to extinction or sampling bias, and have likely confounded past biogeographic signal. We inferred the radiation of Macropathinae began during the Lower Cretaceous prior to the fragmentation of Gondwana with a potential Pangaean origin for Rhaphidophoridae. Finally, we found evidence for several undescribed species and genera of Australian Macropathinae, all of which qualify as short-range endemics, and discuss the conservation implications of these restricted distributions.

Diving beetles (Dytiscidae) are important generalist predators in freshwater ecosystems that have been around since the Jurassic. Previous phylogenetic studies have identified a largely stable set of monophyletic named groups (subfamilies, tribes and subtribes); however, backbone relationships among these have remained elusive. Here we use whole genome sequencing to reconstruct the phylogeny of Dytiscidae. We mine de novo assemblies and combine them with others available from transcriptome studies of Adephaga to compile a dataset of 149 taxa and 5364 orthologous genes. Species tree and concatenated maximum likelihood methods provide largely congruent results, resolving in agreement all but two inter-subfamily nodes. All 11 subfamilies are monophyletic, supporting previous results; possibly also all tribes, but Hydroporini is recovered as paraphyletic with weak support and monophyly of Dytiscini is method dependent. One large clade includes eight of 11 subfamilies (excluding Laccophilinae, Lancetinae and Coptotominae). Matinae is sister to Hydrodytinae + Hydroporinae, in contrast with previous studies that have hypothesized Matinae as sister to the remaining Dytiscidae. Copelatinae belong in a clade with Cybistrinae, Dytiscinae, Agabinae and Colymbetinae. Strongly confirmed sister group relationships of subfamilies include Cybistrinae + Dytiscinae, Agabinae + Colymbetinae, Lancetinae + Coptotominae and Hydrodytinae + Hydroporinae. Remaining problems include resolving with confidence the basal ingroup trichotomy and relationships between tribes in Hydroporinae. Resolution of tribes in Dytiscinae is affected by methodological inconsistencies. Platynectini, new tribe, is described and Hydrotrupini redefined within subfamily Agabinae. This study is a step forward towards completely resolving the backbone phylogeny of Dytiscidae, which we hope will stimulate further work on remaining challenges.

Emerald moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae) are a cosmopolitan subfamily with over 275 genera and 2600 species. Most emerald moths are characterised by a green ground colour, with different lineages exhibiting different shades of green. Monophyly of Geometrinae has been confirmed by multiple phylogenetic analyses, yet the relative placement of many of the geometrine tribes is poorly supported. A document compiled by the geometrid research community lists 20 geometrine tribes that are still accepted by at least some current geometrid specialists; some of these are believed to be paraphyletic. Three additional tribes were proposed by molecular phylogenies published within the last decade, bringing the total to 23. In this study, we use anchored hybrid enrichment to obtain phylogenomic data from over 400 loci for 63 genera of emerald moths, with complete taxon sampling at the tribe level (representing all 23 proposed tribal hypotheses), and generate a maximum likelihood tree to assess the status of these tribes. We treat Dichordophorini Ferguson as a junior synonym (syn.n.) of Nemoriini Gumppenberg, and propose two new subtribes of Hemitheini Bruand: Oospilina subtr.n. and Xanthoxenina subtr.n.

The subfamily Typhlocybinae (Cicadellidae) represents a globally distributed, species-rich lineage of leafhoppers. Despite significant advancements in morphological taxonomy and higher-level phylogenetics, species-level evolutionary dynamics within individual typhlocybine genera remain poorly understood. This study focuses on the endemic Oriental genus Agnesiella Dworakowska, which exhibits high species diversity in the Hengduan Mountains of Southwest China. Using whole-genome sequences of 48 individuals representing 40 Agnesiella species and 4 species from related genera, we reconstructed phylogenetic relationships, estimated divergence times and investigated patterns of hybridisation and introgression within this genus using single-copy orthologue sequences (SCOs), ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and single-nucleotide polymorphism sequences (SNPs). Our findings reveal a complex evolutionary history in Agnesiella, shaped by incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and extensive interspecific gene flow, particularly within the subgenus Draberiella. The diversification of Agnesiella coincides with the orogenic and climatic changes in the Hengduan Mountains during the Miocene–Pliocene, which may have promoted allopatric isolation, secondary contact and hybridisation. Functional analysis of the introgressed genomic regions suggests their potential contribution to adaptive evolution, including enhanced metabolism of nitrogen compounds and plant secondary metabolites. These findings provide novel insights into the evolutionary dynamics of Typhlocybinae, emphasising the critical role of hybridisation and introgression in driving speciation and adaptation in insect lineages.

The Neotropical tribe Darnini (Hemiptera: Membracidae) includes approximately 102 species classified in 18 genera. Darnini displays marked morphological heterogeneity among its genera, and the tribe has been poorly studied compared with other treehopper groups. The tribe has been considered monophyletic due to the presence of cucullate setae on the ventral sides of the femora. A previous morphology-based analysis placed the genera of Darnini into three groups that differ in pronotal shape, suggesting that the common ancestor of each group acquired a different defensive strategy, mimicking either bird droppings, thorns, or raindrops. To test this hypothesis, we compiled the most taxon- and character-rich dataset for Darnini and related groups to date, using anchored hybrid enrichment to obtain data for 492 genetic loci comprising >133,855 nucleotide positions for a total of 51 taxa (31 Darnini species, 11 representatives of other tribes of Darninae and 9 taxa representing other subfamilies). Phylogenetic analysis of the concatenated nucleotide sequence data using Maximum Likelihood and coalescent gene tree (ASTRAL) analyses yielded similar topologies, with most branches having maximum support. The results are consistent with the hypothesis of a single acquisition of each of the three defensive pronotal syndromes early in the evolution of Darnini, but also indicate that two genera of the tribe Hemikypthini (Hemikyptha and Atypa) are derived within the ‘thorny’ and ‘raindrop’ groups of Darnini, consistent with their pronotal shapes. This indicates that Hemikypthini is polyphyletic and that the characters of the leg chaetotaxy used to diagnose both tribes are homoplasious. Therefore, we treat Darnini and Hemikypthini as synonyms.

The macropsine leafhoppers are a morphologically unique group of arboreal leafhoppers. However, the taxonomic status of this group has been controversial, and their evolutionary history is poorly understood. In this study, we present the first phylogenomic analyses of this group using both concatenation and coalescent methods, based on 267–1100 universal single-copy orthologues (USCOs) from 30 species, representing 14 of the 19 extant genera and subgenera. Phylogenomic analyses employing different analytical strategies yielded topologies in which many relationships were congruent but some were unstable across analyses. Our results do not group Macropsini with other included representatives of Eurymelinae, and suggest that the previously recognized genera Macropsis Lewis, Pedionis Hamilton, Pediopsis Burmeister and Pediopsoides Matsumura are not monophyletic. Based on these findings, we propose the following taxonomic revisions: Macropsidius Ribaut syn. n. is synonymized with Macropsis Lewis; the subgenus Pediopsis (Thyia) Kirkaldy is elevated to genus rank as Thyia stat. nov. Fossil-calibrated divergence-time analyses based on the optimal topology indicate that the crown group of Macropsini originated approximately 112.59 million years ago in the Lower Cretaceous. Most extant genera appeared from the Upper Cretaceous to the early Miocene. Our study provides novel insights into the phylogenetic framework of Macropsini, offering a foundation for future research on the systematics and evolution of this significant arboreal leafhopper lineage.

Many insect groups have acquired obligate microbial symbionts, and the resulting associations can have important ecological and evolutionary consequences. A notable example among ants is the species-rich tribe Camponotini, whose members derive nutritional benefits from a vertically inherited bacterial endosymbiont, Blochmannia. We generate ultraconserved element (UCE) phylogenomic data for 220 ingroup and 5 outgroup taxa to reconstruct a detailed evolutionary history of the Camponotini, including the inference of divergence times and dispersal events. Under multiple modes of analysis, including both concatenation and species-tree approaches, we recover a well-supported backbone phylogeny comprising eight lineages: three large genera (Camponotus, Colobopsis, Polyrhachis) and several smaller genera or clusters of genera. Three novel lineages are uncovered that cannot be placed in any existing genus: Lathidris gen. n., from the mountains of Mesoamerica; Retalimyrma gen. n., from the Indian Himalayas; and Uwari gen. n., from eastern Asia. The species in these new genera were described and placed erroneously in Camponotus. The tribe Camponotini is estimated to have a crown origin in the Eocene (median age 38.4 Ma), with successively younger crown ages for Colobopsis (22.5 Ma), Camponotus (18.6 Ma) and Polyrhachis (18.5 Ma). We infer an Australasian or Indomalayan origin for the tribe, with multiple dispersal events to the Afrotropics, Palearctic region, and New World. Phylogenetic analysis of selected Blochmannia genes from a subset of 97 camponotine taxa yields results that are largely congruent with the ant host phylogeny, at least for well-supported nodes, but we find evidence that Blochmannia from some old lineages—especially Lathidris—may have discordant histories, suggesting possible lability of this symbiosis in the early evolution of camponotine ants.

Reconstructing the tree of life is facing challenges in inferring accurate and robust phylogeny based on large data in the genomic era. Currently, universal single-copy orthologs (USCOs), ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) are widely used to reconstruct phylogeny. In this study, the higher-level phylogeny of lacewings and allied orders (Neuropterida) is reconstructed based on USCOs, UCEs and mitogenomes assembled from 42 newly sequenced low-coverage genomes (above 32.80X), representing all orders and all families except Rhachiberothidae, under various types of data filtering, model selection and strategies of tree reconstruction. Using relatively conservative criteria, we demonstrate that the topology based on amino acid matrices of the USCOs filtered by multifactorial strategies under the site heterogeneity model (LG + PMSF (C20)) is the most robust. The average bootstrap support (ABS) values, an important criterion in gene filtering, exhibit large variation among different repetitions. Applying fossil calibrations at deeper nodes close to the root of the phylogeny is demonstrated to facilitate more accurate estimation of evolutionary timescales by comparing three different calibration schemes (deeper nodes, shallower nodes and a combination of both). These results highlight the complexity of genomic data and offer an integrative solution to overcome systematic error in phylogenomic inference.