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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 (NiklasteliaZahiri & Hollowaygen.nov.andPellinenteliaHolloway & Zahirigen.nov.) are described and a number of taxonomic changes (new combinations and new synonymies) are established. The Neotropical genusThyriodes, 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.

Butterfly eyespots are wing patterns reminiscent of vertebrate eyes, formed by concentric rings of contrastingly coloured scales. Eyespots are usually located close to the wing margin and often regarded as the single most conspicuous pattern element of butterfly wing colour displays. Recent efforts to understand the processes involved in the formation of eyespots have been driven mainly by evo‐devo approaches focused on model species. However, patterns of change implied by phylogenetic relationships can also inform hypotheses about the underlying developmental mechanisms associated with the formation or disappearance of eyespots, and the limits of phenotypic diversity occurring in nature. Here we present a combined evidence phylogenetic hypothesis for the genusEunica, a prominent member of diverse Neotropical butterfly communities, that features notable variation among species in eyespot patterns on the ventral hind wing surface. The data matrix consists of one mitochondrial gene region (COI), four nuclear gene regions (GAPDH, RPS5, EF1a and Wingless) and 68 morphological characters. A combined cladistic analysis with all the characters concatenated produced a single most parsimonious tree that, although fully resolved, includes many nodes with modest branch support. The phylogenetic hypothesis presented corroborates a previously proposed morphological trend leading to the loss of eyespots, together with an increase in the size of the conserved eyespots, relative to outgroup taxa. Furthermore, wing colour pattern dimorphism and the presence of androconia suggest that the most remarkable instances of sexual dimorphism are present in the species ofEunicawith the most derived eyespot patterns, and are in most cases accompanied by autapomorphic combinations of scent scales and “hair pencils”. We discuss natural and sexual selection as potential adaptive explanations for dorsal and ventral wing patterns.

The global increase in species richness toward the tropics across continents and taxonomic groups, referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient, stimulated the formulation of many hypotheses to explain the underlying mechanisms of this pattern. We evaluate several of these hypotheses to explain spatial diversity patterns in a butterfly family, the Nymphalidae, by assessing the contributions of speciation, extinction, and dispersal, and also the extent to which these processes differ among regions at the same latitude. We generate a time-calibrated phylogeny containing 2,866 nymphalid species (~45% of extant diversity). Neither speciation nor extinction rate variations consistently explain the latitudinal diversity gradient among regions because temporal diversification dynamics differ greatly across longitude. The Neotropical diversity results from low extinction rates, not high speciation rates, and biotic interchanges with other regions are rare. Southeast Asia is also characterized by a low speciation rate but, unlike the Neotropics, is the main source of dispersal events through time. Our results suggest that global climate change throughout the Cenozoic, combined with tropical niche conservatism, played a major role in generating the modern latitudinal diversity gradient of nymphalid butterflies.

The availability of standard protocols to obtainDNAsequences has allowed the inference of phylogenetic Hypotheses for many taxa, including moths. We here have inferred a phylogeny using maximum‐Likelihood and Bayesian approaches for a species‐rich group of moths (Erebidae, Arctiinae), with strong emphasis on Neotropical genera collected in different field campaigns in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, eastern Amazon and southern Ecuador. A total of 277 species belonging to 246 genera were included in the analysis. Our main objectives were to shed light on the relationships between suprageneric groups, especially subtribes, and hypothesize colonization events in and out of the Neotropics. The monophyly of Arctiinae and its four tribes (Lithosiini, Amerilini, Syntomini and Arctiini) was recovered in theMLand Bayesian trees. Three Lithosiini subtribes previously found and two additional species groups were recovered monophyletic in both phylogenetic estimation methods. In Arctiini, the monophyly of Spilosomina and Arctiina was highly supported in theMLand Bayesian trees, but the monophyly of Ctenuchina and Echromiina was weakly supported in theMLtree and absent in the Bayesian tree; the remaining subtribes were paraphyletic and, in the case of Phageopterina, formed several species groups. The mapping of species occurrence in ourMLtree suggests that Arctiinae have an Old World origin and that the Neotropical region was colonized at least six times independently. Our analysis also suggests that a number of species that occur in Neotropical and other zoogeographic regions may have originated in the Neotropics, although further taxon sampling is required to support this hypothesis. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a highly speciose group of tropical moths is well covered in a phylogeny, and it seems plausible that the results reported here may be extendable to other species‐rich tropical undersampled moth taxa.

Building the Tree of Life (ToL) is a major challenge of modern biology, requiring advances in cyberinfrastructure, data collection, theory, and more. Here, we argue that phylogenomics stands to benefit by embracing the many heterogeneous genomic signals emerging from the first decade of large-scale phylogenetic analysis spawned by high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Such signals include those most commonly encountered in phylogenomic datasets, such as incomplete lineage sorting, but also those reticulate processes emerging with greater frequency, such as recombination and introgression. Here we focus specifically on how phylogenetic methods can accommodate the heterogeneity incurred by such population genetic processes; we do not discuss phylogenetic methods that ignore such processes, such as concatenation or supermatrix approaches or supertrees. We suggest that methods of data acquisition and the types of markers used in phylogenomics will remain restricted until a posteriori methods of marker choice are made possible with routine whole-genome sequencing of taxa of interest. We discuss limitations and potential extensions of a model supporting innovation in phylogenomics today, the multispecies coalescent model (MSC). Macroevolutionary models that use phylogenies, such as character mapping, often ignore the heterogeneity on which building phylogenies increasingly rely and suggest that assimilating such heterogeneity is an important goal moving forward. Finally, we argue that an integrative cyberinfrastructure linking all steps of the process of building the ToL, from specimen acquisition in the field to publication and tracking of phylogenomic data, as well as a culture that values contributors at each step, are essential for progress.