Phylogenomics of Ichneumonoidea (Hymenoptera) and implications for evolution of mode of parasitism and viral endogenization

Abstract

Ichneumonoidea is one of the most diverse lineages of animals on the planet with more than 48,000 described species and many more undescribed. Parasitoid wasps of this superfamily are beneficial insects that attack and kill other arthropods and are important for understanding diversification and the evolution of life history strategies related to parasitoidism. Further, some lineages of parasitoids within Ichneumonoidea have acquired endogenous virus elements (EVEs) that are permanently a part of the wasp's genome and benefit the wasp through host immune disruption and behavioral control.Unfortunately, understanding the evolution of viral acquisition, parasitism strategies, diversification, and host immune disruption mechanisms, is deeply limited by the lack of a robust phylogenetic framework for Ichneumonoidea. Here we design probes targeting 541 genes across 91 taxa to test phylogenetic relationships, the evolution of parasitoid strategies, and the utility of probes to capture polydnavirus genes across a diverse array of taxa. Phylogenetic relationships among Ichneumonoidea were largely well resolved with most higher-level relationships maximally supported. We noted codon use biases between the outgroups, Braconidae, and Ichneumonidae and within Pimplinae, which were largely solved through analyses of amino acids rather than nucleotide data. These biases may impact phylogenetic reconstruction and caution for outgroup selection is recommended. Ancestral state reconstructions were variable for Braconidae across analyses, but consistent for reconstruction of idiobiosis/koinobiosis in Ichneumonidae.The data suggest many transitions between parasitoid life history traits across the whole superfamily. The two subfamilies within Ichneumonidae that have polydnaviruses are supported as distantly related, providing strong evidence for two independent acquisitions of ichnoviruses. Polydnavirus capture using our designed probes was only partially successful and suggests that more targeted approaches would be needed for this strategy to be effective for surveying taxa for these viral genes. In total, these data provide a robust framework for the evolution of Ichneumonoidea.3

Evolution of a cytoplasmic determinant: evidence for the biochemical basis of functional evolution of a novel germ line regulator

“…For some species, germ cell specification via germ plasm (black circles) or differentiation from mesoderm (no germ plasm; white circles) has been reported in the literature, with primary data references indicated by numbers as follows: [1-6]: (Bütschli 1870; Fleig and Sander 1985, 1986; Zissler 1992; Gutzeit, et al 1993; Dearden 2006); [7]: (Khila and Abouheif 2008); [8-10]: (Bull 1982; Lynch and Desplan 2010; Lynch, et al 2011); [11]: (Koscielska and Koscielski 1987); [12-13]: (Silvestri 1906, 1908); [12, 14-21]: (Silvestri 1906; Hegner 1914; Grbic’, et al 1996; Strand and Grbic’ 1997; Grbic’ 2000, 2003; Donnell, et al 2004; Zhurov, et al 2004); [22-25]: (Gatenby 1917a; Gatenby 1917b; Gatenby 1918; Gatenby 1920); [24]: (Amy 1961); [27-28]: (Gatenby 1920; Tawfik 1957); [29-30]: (Bronskill 1959; Fleischmann 1975); [31]: (Shafiq 1954); [32]: (Sumitani, et al 2003). Phylogenetic relationships as per (Nyman, et al 2006; Field, et al 2011; Schmidt 2013; Prous, et al 2014; Ward 2014; Malm and Nyman 2015; Vilhelmsen 2015; Ward, et al 2016; Peters, et al 2017; Chen and Achterberg 2018; Peters, et al 2018; Sharanowski, et al 2021). Evolution of major hymenopteran life history characteristics (eusociality, pollen collecting, stinger, parasitoidism) as per (Peters, et al 2017).…”