Food Plant Shifts Drive the Diversification of Sack-Bearer Moths

Goldstein

Miller

et al. 2023

Preprint

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We present the results of the first phylogenomic analyses based on anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) data from densely sampled tribes and subfamilies of Notodontidae (Prominent Moths). Our analyses reveal the family's polyphyly with respect to an assemblage of genera related to Scrancia Holland that has been variously recognized at the tribal or subfamilial rank. We propose and re-describe Scranciidae, stat. nov., and recognize 21 genera and approximately 100 species, distributed in Africa, Asia, and Australia and not represented in previous phylogenomic studies, from the six recognized noctuoid families (Noctuidae, Erebidae, Euteliidae, Nolidae, Notodontidae, and Oenosandridae). We further re-interpret morphological synapomorphies previously proposed for Notodontidae (including Scranciidae) and for the trifid Noctuoidea, viz. the ventral-facing tympanum and trifid forewing venation, characters previously called into question when Doidae were transferred from Noctuoidea to Drepanoidea. Deep-level relationships within Noctuoidea are not firmly established outside the clade comprising the four quadrifid families (Noctuidae, Erebidae, Euteliidae, and Nolidae), and in attempting to establish the phylogenetic position of Scranciidae relative to Notodontidae, Oenosandridae, and the quadrifids, we obtain conflicting results depending on data type (amino acid vs. nucleotide) and analytical framework (maximum likelihood, multi-species coalescent, and parsimony). We also demonstrate that discordant topologies among these ancient lineages yield drastically different divergence time estimates, highlighting the need for caution when interpreting phylogenetic dating of uncertain topologies. Following multiple analyses of several datasets designed around the distribution of missing data, and an evaluation of strict support measures at the deepest nodes of the noctuoid tree, we provisionally conclude that this ambiguity is a function of character conflict amplified by missing data and short branch lengths, and that in the topology best supported by the available data, Scranciidae is placed well outside Notodontidae and sister to the remaining Noctuoidea.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our dating method follows the ML method employed by St Laurent et al (2021), which includes a custom pipeline of python scripts for running multiple TreePL (Smith and O'Meara 2012) analyses in parallel to combine into a single "consensus" dated tree. This allows for ranges of S3.…”

Section: Divergence Time Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hiding in Plain Sight: Phylogenomics Reveals a New Branch on the Noctuoidea Tree of Life

Goldstein

Miller

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Due to difficulties in inferring divergence times with large genomic datasets, we performed ML analyses that could accommodate large datasets of hundreds of loci at once. For more traditional, computationally intensive Bayesian dating approaches, we subsampled our dataset, reducing the number of loci used in downstream analyses (Jarvis et al 2014, Misof et al 2014, Prum et al 2015, Smith et al 2018, Kawahara et al 2019, St Laurent et al 2021). Regardless of the analysis employed, we used nine secondary calibrations derived from Kawahara et al (2019), the most comprehensively fossil-calibrated chronogram of Lepidoptera.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic systematics, diversification, and biogeography of Cerurinae (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) and a description of a new genus

Insect Systematics and Diversity

Goldstein

Miller³

et al. 2023

We present the first dated molecular phylogeny of the Cerurinae moths (Notodontidae), based on sequence data for 666 loci generated by anchored hybrid enrichment. Monophyly of Cerurinae is corroborated, which includes the following genera: Pararethona Janse, Pseudorethona Janse, Oreocerura Kiriakoff, stat. rev., Cerurella Kiriakoff, Notocerura Kiriakoff, Hampsonita Kiriakoff, Afrocerura Kiriakoff, Cerurina Kiriakoff, Neoharpyia Daniel, Furcula Lamarck, Neocerura Matsumura, Americerura St Laurent and Goldstein, gen. nov., Cerura Schrank, and Kamalia Koçak & Kemal. The type species of the Neotropical genus Tecmessa Burmeister, T. annulipes (Berg), which had been incorrectly assigned to Cerurinae, is recovered in Heterocampinae; and Americeruragen. nov. is proposed to receive 17 unambiguously cerurine species transferred from Tecmessa. Divergence time estimates recover a crown age of Notodontidae roughly coincident with the K-Pg boundary, and a late-Oligocene crown age for Cerurinae. An African origin is inferred for Cerurinae, followed by colonization of the Palearctic, the Americas, Indomalaya, and Australasia during the Miocene. At least three independent colonizations of the Americas are inferred, one in the mid-Miocene associated with ancestral Americeruragen. nov. and two in the Pliocene and Pleistocene within Furcula. We hypothesize that the global spread of Cerurinae was enabled by that of its primary caterpillar foodplants in the Salicaceae. State-dependent diversification analyses suggest that cerurines diversified most rapidly in temperate climates.

“…TreePL outputs divergence times as single dates per node. In order to provide a range of dates for each divergence event, we performed TreePL independently 100 times and summarized results, following the approach of St Laurent et al (74). This method uses several custom Python scripts (available at https://github.com/sunray1/treepl) and creates 100 bootstrap replicates generated in RAxML (75) using the 425-locus data matrix, partitioned according to the same 69 partitions inferred with ModelFinder.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversification is correlated with temperature in white and sulfur butterflies

Carvalho

Owens

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Temperature is thought to be a key variable explaining global patterns of species richness. However, to investigate this relationship carefully, it is necessary to study clades with broad geographic ranges that are comprised of species inhabiting diverse biomes with well-characterized species ranges. In the present study, we investigate the link between temperature and diversification in the butterfly family Pieridae (sulfurs and whites) by combining Next Generation sequences and published molecular data with fine-grained distribution information. After building the most comprehensive phylogeny of the group, with almost 600 species and all higher taxa (subfamilies, tribes and subtribes), we found strong support for the following relationships within the family: Dismorphiinae + (Coliadinae + (Pseudopontiinae + Pierinae)). With a curated distribution dataset of over 800,000 occurrences, we conducted multiple comparative phylogenetic analyses that provided strong evidence that species in environments with more stable daily temperatures or with cooler maximum temperatures in the warm seasons have higher diversification rates. We also found a positive correlation between speciation and extinction with paleotemperature: as global temperature decreased through geological time, so did diversification rates. Although many studies demonstrate higher diversity in the tropics, we have been able to identify specific climate variables associated with changes in diversification, while also inferring the most robust and well sampled phylogenomic framework for Pieridae to date.