Systematic Entomology最新文献

Geometrid moths, the second largest radiation of Lepidoptera, have been the target of extensive phylogenetic studies. Those studies have flagged several problems in tree topology that have remained unanswered. We address three of those: (i) deep nodes of Geometridae (subfamilies Sterrhinae + Larentiinae, or Sterrhinae alone as sister to all other subfamilies), (ii) the taxonomic status of subfamily Orthostixinae and (iii) the systematic position of the genus Eumelea (classified in Desmobathrinae: Eumeleini or incertae sedis earlier). We address these questions by using a phylogenomic approach, a novel method on these moths, with up to 1000 protein-coding genes extracted from whole-genome shotgun sequencing data. Our datasets include representatives from all geometrid subfamilies and we analyse the data by using three different tree search strategies: partitioned models, GHOST model and multispecies coalescent analysis. Despite the extensive data, we found incongruences in tree topologies. Eumelea did not associate with Desmobathrinae as suggested earlier, but instead, it was recovered in three different phylogenetic positions, either as sister to Oenochrominae, Geometrinae or as sister to Oenochrominae + Geometrinae. Orthostixinae, represented by its type species, falls within Desmobathrinae. We propose the following taxonomic changes: we raise Eumeleini to subfamily rank as Eumeleinae stat. nov. and we treat Orthostixinae as a junior synonym of Desmobathrinae syn. nov.

We performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis on the family Euteliidae to clarify deep divergences and elucidate evolutionary relationships at the level of the subfamily, tribe, and genus. Our dataset consists of 6.3 kbp of one mitochondrial and seven nuclear DNA loci and was analysed using model-based phylogenetic methods, that is, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Based on the recovered topology, we recognize two subfamilies, Euteliinae and Stictopterinae, and the tribes Stictopterini and Odontini. We identify apomorphic morphological character states for Euteliidae and its component subfamilies and tribes. Several genera (e.g., Targalla, Paectes, Marathyssa, Eutelia) were found polyphyletic and require taxonomic revision. Two new genera (Niklastelia Zahiri & Holloway gen.nov. and Pellinentelia Holloway & Zahiri gen.nov.) are described and a number of taxonomic changes (new combinations and new synonymies) are established. The Neotropical genus Thyriodes, currently included in Euteliidae, is found to be associated with Erebinae (Erebidae). The divergence time estimate for the split between the Euteliidae and Noctuidae is at 53 Ma, and the Euteliidae subfamilies Euteliinae and Stictopterinae are estimated to have diverged at 42 Ma. In Stictopterinae, the tribes Stictopterini and Odontodini split at 31 Ma, while Euteliinae began diversifying at 34 Ma. Malpighiales are inferred to have been the ancestral larval hostplant order for Euteliidae. The ancestors of Stictopterinae also appear to have been Malpighiales feeders, but then diverged to Malvales specialists (Odontodini) and Malpighiales specialists (Stictopterini) hostplants. Larvae of Stictopterini appear to be restricted primarily to Clusiaceae, apart from a few records from Dipterocarpaceae. In Euteliinae, Anacardiaceae are predominant as larval hosts. Thus, all hosts in the family are lactiferous, possibly providing some degree of pre-adaptation for exploiting Dipterocarpaceae.

The diverse, largely Neotropical subtribe Euptychiina is widely regarded as one of the most taxonomically challenging groups among all butterflies. Over the last two decades, morphological and molecular studies have revealed widespread paraphyly and polyphyly among genera, and a comprehensive, robust phylogenetic hypothesis is needed to build a firm generic classification to support ongoing taxonomic revisions at the species level. Here, we generated a dataset that includes sequences for up to nine nuclear genes and the mitochondrial COI ‘barcode’ for a total of 1280 specimens representing 449 described and undescribed species of Euptychiina and 39 out-groups, resulting in the most complete phylogeny for the subtribe to date. In combination with a recently developed genomic backbone tree, this dataset resulted in a topology with strong support for most branches. We recognize eight major clades that each contain two or more genera, together containing all but seven Euptychiina genera. We provide a summary of the taxonomy, diversity and natural history of each clade, and discuss taxonomic changes implied by the phylogenetic results. We describe nine new genera to accommodate 38 described species: Lazulina Willmott, Nakahara & Espeland, gen.n., Saurona Huertas & Willmott, gen.n., Argentaria Huertas & Willmott, gen.n., Taguaiba Freitas, Zacca & Siewert, gen.n., Xenovena Marín & Nakahara, gen.n., Deltaya Willmott, Nakahara & Espeland, gen.n., Modica Zacca, Casagrande & Willmott, gen.n., Occulta Nakahara & Willmott, gen.n., and Trico Nakahara & Espeland, gen.n. We also synonymize Nubila Viloria, Andrade & Henao, 2019 (syn.n.) with Splendeuptychia Forster, 1964, Macrocissia Viloria, Le Crom & Andrade, 2019 (syn.n.) with Satyrotaygetis Forster, 1964, and Rudyphthimoides Viloria, 2022 (syn.n.) with Malaveria Viloria & Benmesbah, 2020. Overall, we revised the generic placement of 79 species (74 new generic combinations and five revised combinations), and as a result all but six described species of Euptychiina are accommodated within 70 named, monophyletic genera. For all newly described genera, we provide illustrations of representative species, drawings of wing venation and male and (where possible) female genitalia, and distribution maps, and summarize the natural history of the genus. For three new monotypic genera, Occulta gen.n., Trico gen.n. and Xenovena gen.n. we provide a taxonomic revision with a review of the taxonomy of each species and data from examined specimens. We provide a revised synonymic list for Euptychiina containing 460 valid described species, 53 subspecies and 255 synonyms, including several new synonyms and reinstated species.

Under rapid radiation, the earliest components of evolutionary divergence are often difficult to resolve, which were always driven by the characteristics of taxa and the limitations of alternative analytical methods. The origin and radiation of the alpine butterfly Parnassius, a high-altitude mountainous insect group, can be attributed to the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Despite detailed phylogenetic analyses of the genus, deep phylogenetic relationships among the major subgenera remain recalcitrant. In this study, 102 individuals from 10 representative Parnassius species were sampled to resolve the phylogenetic relationships among subgenera based on nuclear and mitochondrial genome datasets. Gene-tree/species-tree conflicts were detected by concatenation and multispecies coalescent (MSC) approaches. We recovered a well-supported species tree, despite these conflicts, and detected considerable phylogenetic discordance among genomic regions. The main explanation for the topological discordance among subgenera was extensive incomplete lineage sorting (ILS), whereas introgression events were not prominent. The origin and explosive radiation of Parnassius (i.e., rapid succession of speciation events) in the late Miocene associated with environmental events on the plateau led to short internal branches, thereby increasing ILS and topological conflicts, especially among closely related subgenera. Our results also suggested that MSC approaches (SNP and AFLP Package for Phylogenetic analysis [SNAPP] and SVDquartets) are accurate and superior to the concatenation approach; in particular, SVDquartets can explicitly accommodate gene-tree/species-tree conflicts caused by high ILS and demonstrate strong robustness. Finally, we explored the phylogenomic data by testing multiple sources of phylogenomic conflict to clarify the strengths and limitations of different approaches, while considering phylogenetic signal variation in mitochondrial loci. We anticipate that the phylogeny described here will be the backbone of future evolutionary studies of the genus and will provide insight into phylogenetic discordance due to rapid radiation.

The alpine butterfly genus Parnassius is a popular model group for studying biogeography, evolution, conservation biology, and ecology. Despite its scientific importance, a comprehensive and robust phylogeny of this group is still lacking. In this study, we used an amplicon capture strategy to sequence 144 nuclear protein-coding genes and complete mitochondrial genomes for 60 Parnassius specimens covering 42 species and all eight subgenera of Parnassius. Our results strongly support the monophyly of the genus and eight subgenera. The relationships among subgenera are robustly resolved as (Sachaia, (Kreizbergia, (Driopa, (Parnassius, (Tadumia, Lingamius), (Kailasius, Koramius))))), which is different from all previous results. Biogeographic and divergence time analyses indicate that the ancestor of Parnassius originated in an area including the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau (HTP) and Mongolian steppes in the middle Miocene approximately 13.19 Mya. The middle Miocene global cooling event (starting from ~13.9 Mya) probably provided climatic opportunities for the diversification of cold-adapted Parnassius. The ancestral state reconstruction analyses suggest that the ancestor of Parnassius butterflies most likely lived in a medium elevational area (2000–4000 m) and fed on Papaveraceae plants. The host shift from Papaveraceae to Crassulaceae in the subgenus Parnassius increases the species diversity of this subgenus, concurring with the “escape and radiate” hypothesis. Overall, our work provides valuable nuclear gene and mitochondrial genome data and a robust phylogenetic framework of Parnassius for future studies of the taxonomy, evolution, and ecology of this group.

The family Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) is a species-rich group of aculeate wasps that occur worldwide. The higher-level classification of the family has historically been controversial due, in part, to the extreme sexual dimorphism exhibited by these insects and their morphological similarity to other wasp taxa that also have apterous females. Modern hypotheses on the internal higher classification of Mutillidae have been exclusively based on morphology and, further, they include Myrmosinae as a mutillid subfamily. In contrast, several molecular-based family-level studies of Aculeata recovered Myrmosinae as a nonmutillid taxon. To test the validity of these morphology-based classifications and the phylogenetic placement of the controversial taxon Myrmosinae, a phylogenomic study of Mutillidae was conducted using ultraconserved elements (UCEs). All currently recognized subfamilies and tribes of Mutillidae were represented in this study using 140 ingroup taxa. The maximum likelihood criterion (ML) and the maximum parsimony criterion (MP) were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships within the family and related taxa using an aligned data set of 238,764 characters; the topologies of these respective analyses were largely congruent. The modern higher classification of Mutillidae, based on morphology, is largely congruent with the phylogenomic results of this study at the subfamily level, whereas the tribal classification is poorly supported. The subfamily Myrmosinae was recovered as sister to Sapygidae in the ML analysis and sister to Sapygidae + Pompilidae in the MP analysis; it is consequently raised to the family level, Myrmosidae, stat.nov. The two constituent tribes of Myrmosidae are raised to the subfamily level, Kudakrumiinae, stat.nov., and Myrmosinae, stat.nov. All four recognized tribes of Mutillinae were found to be non-monophyletic; three additional mutilline clades were recovered in addition to Ctenotillini, Mutillini, Smicromyrmini, and Trogaspidiini sensu stricto. Three new tribes are erected for members of these clades: Pristomutillini Waldren, trib.nov., Psammothermini Waldren, trib.nov., and Zeugomutillini Waldren, trib.nov. All three recognized tribes of Sphaeropthalminae were found to be non-monophyletic; six additional sphaeropthalmine clades were recovered in addition to Dasymutillini, Pseudomethocini, and Sphaeropthalmini sensu stricto. The subtribe Ephutina of Mutillinae: Mutillini was found to be polyphyletic, with the Ephuta genus-group recovered within Sphaeropthalminae and the Odontomutilla genus-group recovered as sister to Myrmillinae + Mutillinae. Consequently, the subtribe Ephutina is transferred from Mutillinae: Mutillini and is raised to a tribe within Sphaeropthalminae, Ephutini, stat.nov. Further, the taxon Odontomutillinae, stat.nov., is raised from a synonym of Ephutina to the subfamily level. The sphaeropthalmine tribe Pseudomethocini was

The Alticini comprise 601 genera and 10,000 species, including plant pests. Their phylogeny remains largely unresolved, inhibiting taxonomic stability, specimen identification and biological understanding. Here, we generated a genomic dataset using Anchored Hybrid Enrichment (AHE) for 54 genera of Alticini, 16 of Galerucini, and 40 of other Chrysomelidae to test the monophyly of Alticini, and its genus groups, and to examine the utility of established diagnostic characters. Maximum likelihood and coalescent phylogenetic analyses produced resolved and overall congruent topologies. Synetinae was sister to Cassidinae + Eumolpinae + Lamprosomatinae + Cryptocephalinae, supporting its recognition as valid. Within Galerucinae, Aulacothorax Boheman was found as sister to Galerucini + Alticini (each monophyletic). Tribe Serraticollini White stat. rev. is reinstated as valid, as the oldest available name for the higher lineage containing Aulacothorax. We extend Crowson's classification, with Alticini, Galerucini, and Serraticollini united under Galerucinae. We transfer genera Chalaenosoma Jacoby, Demarchus Jacoby, and Mandarella Duvivier from Alticini to Galerucini incertae sedis, and confirm prior transfers of Hespera Weise, Luperomorpha Weise and Nonarthra Baly from Alticini to Galerucini incertae sedis. Galerucini and Alticini are reciprocally monophyletic following these transfers. Our work recovered multiple evolutionary origins of jumping hind legs in Galerucinae, hindering straightforward morphological diagnosis of tribes. We provide diagnoses for Alticini, Galerucini and Galerucinae, but these require dissection of female genitalia. We achieved some phylogenetic resolution within Alticini, but found few adult morphological characters to define subclades. Our results indicate that with future denser taxon sampling, AHE phylogenomics could provide a robust basis for subtribal classifications.

Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) are known for their significantly enlarged genome compared to other insects. However, our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of genome size (GS) with this family is still limited. This study measured the GS of 62 grasshopper species using flow cytometry and assembled 10 new mitochondrial genomes for comparative phylogenetic analyses. An expanded species sampling discovered several grasshopper species with giant GS surpassing the previous insect record. We then applied recently developed methods to test more complicated, heterogeneous evolutionary models. We found that grasshopper GS has a strong phylogenetic signal and does not correlate with species' body size or flight ability. These results support the neutral or near-neutral hypotheses of GS evolution. However, GS had accelerated rates of evolution on some grasshopper lineages, suggesting heterogeneity in its evolutionary dynamics. Ancestral state reconstruction indicates that the large genome evolved before the origin of the Acrididae family. Future studies with more species measurements will help assess the frequency of macroevolutionary shifts and identify possible mechanisms for these shifts in grasshopper GS evolution.

The Poritiinae are a diverse subfamily of lycaenid butterflies with about 700 species divided into two major groups: the Asian endemic tribe Poritiini, and the African endemic tribe Liptenini. Among these, the Liptenini are notable for their lichenivorous diet and the strong but apparently non-mutualistic ant associations of many species. We present the first molecular phylogeny for this subfamily, based on data from 14 gene regions, and including 218 representatives from 177 taxa (approximately 25% of species) in 50 of the 58 (86%) recognized genera. From this analysis, we confirm the division of the subfamily into two tribes, and we rearrange the Liptenini tribe into six subtribes, Durbaniina, Pentilina, Liptenina, Iridanina and Epitolina, plus a new tribe, Cooksoniina subtrib. n., to fill a gap in the nomenclature revealed by the phylogenetic analysis. We also point to several genera in need of further taxonomic revision. Ancestral range reconstruction could not infer the range of the common ancestor of the Poritiinae; however, the common ancestor of the Poritiini was likely Asian, while that of the Liptenini was likely African, with subsequent narrowing of ranges in several lineages.