A molecular phylogeny for the pyraloid moths (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea) and its implications for higher‐level classification

Abstract

Abstract. Pyraloidea, one of the largest superfamilies of Lepidoptera, comprise more than 15 684 described species worldwide, including important pests, biological control agents and experimental models. Understanding of pyraloid phylogeny, the basis for a predictive classification, is currently provisional. We present the most detailed molecular estimate of relationships to date across the subfamilies of Pyraloidea, and assess its concordance with previous morphology-based hypotheses. We sequenced up to five nuclear genes, totalling 6633 bp, in each of 42 pyraloids spanning both families and 18 of the 21 subfamilies, plus up to 14 additional genes, for a total of 14 826 bp, in 21 of those pyraloids plus all 24 outgroups. Maximum likelihood analyses yield trees that, within Pyraloidea, differ little among datasets and character treatments and are strongly supported at all levels of divergence (83% of nodes with bootstrap ≥80%). Subfamily relationships within Pyralidae, all very strongly supported (>90% bootstrap), differ only slightly from a previous morphological analysis, and can be summarized as Galleriinae + Chrysauginae (Phycitinae (Pyralinae + Epipaschiinae)). The main remaining uncertainty involves Chrysauginae, of which the poorly studied Australian genera may constitute the basal elements of Galleriinae + Chrysauginae or even of Pyralidae. In Crambidae the molecular phylogeny is also strongly supported, but conflicts with most previous hypotheses. Among the newly proposed groupings are a 'wet-habitat clade' comprising Acentropinae + Schoenobiinae + Midilinae, and a provisional 'mustard oil clade' containing Glaphyriinae, Evergestinae and Noordinae, in which the majority of described larvae feed on Brassicales. Within this clade a previous synonymy of Dichogaminae with the Glaphyriinae is supported. Evergestinae syn. n. and Noordinae syn. n. are here newly synonymized with Glaphyriinae, which appear to be paraphyletic with respect to both. Pyraustinae and Spilomelinae as Re-use sampled here are each monophyletic but form a sister group pair. Wurthiinae n. syn., comprising the single genus Niphopyralis Hampson, which lives in ant nests, are closely related to, apparently subordinate within, and here newly synonymized with, Spilomelinae syn. n. IntroductionThe Pyraloidea, comprising the families Pyralidae and Crambidae, are one of the mega-diverse superfamilies of Lepidoptera, trailing only Gelechioidea and Papilionoidea outside the Macroheterocera sensu van Nieukerken et al. (2011). The 15 500 + described species (van Nieukerken et al., 2011) are distributed worldwide; many more species are undescribed, especially in the tropics. Pyraloidea include numerous major pests of crops, stored foodstuffs, forests and ornamental plants, as well as biological control agents used successfully against invasive plants (e.g. Zhang, 1994;Center et al., 2002). They are among the most ecologically diverse lepidopteran superfamilies: in addition to feeding on most major groups of plants, pyraloid larvae collectively expl...

The ghost of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution in the evolution of fern–sawfly associations

“…This result challenges previous suggestions that host switches from angiosperms to ferns are the main process in the accumulation of pteridophagous insect diversity (Weintraub et al, 1995). Candidate lineages comprising mainly or exclusively pteridophagous insects are also known in aphids (Jensen & Holman, 2000), mining flies (Suwa, 2013), grasshoppers (Rowell et al, 1983), and moths (Weintraub et al, 1995;Goolsby et al, 2003;Regier et al, 2012;Ghazali et al, 2014). A comparable pattern has been documented for the capsid bug tribe Bryocorini (Konstantinov & Knyshov, 2015) with all Bryocorini feeding exclusively on ferns with the exception of the genus Bryophilocapsus feeding on mosses.…”

Annotated check list of the Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera) of America North of Mexico

“…24Spilomelinae was recognized as a subfamily in Minet [1982], Solis and Maes (2002), and Regier et al (2012).…”

“…Most prominently this includes the removal of Thyrididae and Hyblaeidae from the Pyraloidea (Minet 1985), and splitting the Pyralidae ( sensu lato ) into two families, the Crambidae and Pyralidae ( sensu stricto ) (Minet 1982); Munroe (1983) used the informal terms of Series Crambiformes and Series Pyraliformes, but followed Minet’s division of two families in Munroe (1995a). We also have adopted the subfamily arrangement of Regier et al (2012) based on recent molecular evidence that supported the morphological evidence or hypothesized new relationships and/or synonymies. The Pyralidae subfamilies remain the Chrysauginae, Galleriinae, Pyralinae, Epipaschiinae, and Phycitinae as in Munroe (1983), with the exception of the Peoriinae, now considered part of the Phycitinae (Minet 1982) and relegated to tribal status within the Phycitinae by Solis and Mitter (1992).…”

“…In the Crambidae, there are several major changes from the MONA check list. 1) The subfamily Evergestinae is synonymized with Glaphyriinae, as the oldest name, based on Regier et al (2012). 2) The genera in the tribe Dichogamini (in the Odontiinae in MONA) are placed in the Glaphyriinae (Munroe and Solis 1999).…”

The occurrence of Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood in mango orchards and factors influencing its population dynamics in Taiwan

“…Tripathy et al (2009) collected pest monitoring data, means of agricultural crop management, farming methods, and meteorological parameters, adopted historical data to simulate the pest damage level in fields, and proposed a pest management framework model, providing recommendations and appropriate processing methods. The quick classification and phylogeny of pests have also been investigated using data mining techniques (Kaila, 1999;Regier et al, 2012). Moreover, Patil et al (2009) applied artificial neural networks (ANNs) for predicting the population dynamics of onion thrips; their results exhibited high accuracy, indicating that ANNs is a suitable approach for analyzing pest prediction systems.…”