Including fossils in phylogeny: a glimpse into the evolution of the superfamily Evanioidea (Hymenoptera: Apocrita) under tip-dating and the fossilized birth–death process

Abstract

Using a fossilized birth–death model, a new phylogeny of the superfamily Evanioidea (including ensign wasps, nightshade wasps and hatchet wasps) is proposed, with estimates of divergence times for its constitutive families and for corroborating the monophyly of Evanioidea. Additionally, our Bayesian analyses demonstrate the monophyly of †Anomopterellidae, †Othniodellithidae, †Andreneliidae, Aulacidae, Gasteruptiida and Evaniidae, whereas †Praeaulacidae and †Baissidae appear to be paraphyletic. Vectevania vetula and Hyptiogastrites electrinus are transferred to Aulacidae. We estimate the divergence time of Evanioidea to be in the Late Triassic (~203 Mya). Additionally, three new othniodellithid wasps are described and figured from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber as the new genus Keratodellitha, with three new species: Keratodellitha anubis sp. nov., Keratodellitha basilisci sp. nov. and Keratodellitha kirin sp. nov. We also document a temporal shift in relative species richness between Ichneumonoidea and Evanioidea.

Estimating the Drivers of Diversification of Stoneflies Through Time and the Limits of Their Fossil Record

“…However, several land masses such as India, Africa or Burmese Block lack evidence for a colonization by Antarctoperlaria at that time (e.g., Jouault et al 2022). This is rather surprising given that the biome homogeneity in central Gondwana could have facilitated wide dispersion between South America and Africa during the Early Cretaceous (Jouault et al 2021b, Nel andJouault 2021) and by extension up to the Burma Terrane (Jouault et al 2021c). Similarly, Antarctica may have served as an exchange route between Australia and South America when a large expanse of temperate rainforests was present on the continent (Klages et al 2020) and until the opening of the Drake Passage around 41 Ma (Scher andMartin 2006, Letsch et al 2021).…”

A new species of thorny lacewing (Neuroptera: Rhachiberothidae: Paraberothinae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber with novel raptorial foreleg structure

“…Later, it was isolated geographically during the mid-Cretaceous (Westerweel et al, 2019) for more than 20 Ma (Heine et al, 2004;Seton et al, 2012;Jouault et al, 2021a).…”

Integrative Phylogenetics: Tools for Palaeontologists to Explore the Tree of Life

“…The development of tip dating with more complex mechanistic tree models, such as the fossilized birth–death (FBD) tree [ 65 , 66 ] and its subsequent variations—such as the skyline FBD [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], which enables speciation, extinction, and fossilization parameters to be changed piecewise across the tree—allowed fossil species to be analysed in conjunction with and within the same analytical framework as extant taxa using Bayesian phylogenetics. This has been particularly useful for palaeontologists, who have revitalizing the use of morphological data to elucidate the dynamics of evolution across the tree of life [ 16 , 17 , 49 , 51 , 52 , 63 , 67 , 68 , 69 ] ( Figure 1 ). These analyses can be carried out with morphological datasets alone, in what is called the morphological clock [ 16 , 17 , 51 , 52 , 63 , 70 ], which adds another method of reconstructing evolution to the palaeontologist’s toolbox.…”