Publications

2023
Knecht RJ, Swain A, Benner JS, Emma SL, Pierce NE, Labandeira CC. Endophytic ancestors of modern leaf miners may have evolved in the Late Carboniferous. New Phytologist. 2023;240 (5) :2050-2057. Publisher's VersionAbstract
  • Endophytic feeding behaviors, including stem borings and galling, have been observed in the fossil record from as early as the Devonian and involve the consumption of a variety of plant (and fungal) tissues. Historically, the exploitation of internal stem tissues through galling has been well documented as emerging during the Pennsylvanian (c. 323–299 million years ago (Ma)), replaced during the Permian by galling of foliar tissues. However, leaf mining, a foliar endophytic behavior that today is exhibited exclusively by members of the four hyperdiverse holometabolous insect orders, has been more sparsely documented, with confirmed examples dating back only to the Early Triassic (c. 252–250 Ma).
  • Here, we describe a trace fossil on seed-fern foliage from the Rhode Island Formation of Massachusetts, USA, representing the earliest indication of a general, endophytic type of feeding damage and dating from the Middle Pennsylvanian (c. 312 Ma).
  • Although lacking the full features of Mesozoic leaf mines, this specimen provides evidence of how endophytic mining behavior may have originated.
  • It sheds light on the evolutionary transition to true foliar endophagy, contributes to our understanding of the behaviors of early holometabolous insects, and enhances our knowledge of macroevolutionary patterns of plant–insect interactions.
Bittleston LS, Wolock CJ, Maeda J, Infante V, Ané J-M, Pierce NE, Pringle A. Carnivorous Nepenthes Pitchers with Less Acidic Fluid House Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria. Environmental Microbiology. 2023;89 (7) :e00812-23. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Carnivorous pitcher plants are uniquely adapted to nitrogen limitation, using pitfall traps to acquire nutrients from insect prey. Pitcher plants in the genus Sarracenia may also use nitrogen fixed by bacteria inhabiting the aquatic microcosms of their pitchers. Here, we investigated whether species of a convergently evolved pitcher plant genus, Nepenthes, might also use bacterial nitrogen fixation as an alternative strategy for nitrogen capture. First, we constructed predicted metagenomes of pitcher organisms from three species of Singaporean Nepenthes using 16S rRNA sequence data and correlated predicted nifH abundances with metadata. Second, we used gene-specific primers to amplify and quantify the presence or absence of nifH directly from 102 environmental samples and identified potential diazotrophs with significant differential abundance in samples that also had positive nifH PCR tests. Third, we analyzed nifH in eight shotgun metagenomes from four additional Bornean Nepenthes species. Finally, we conducted an acetylene reduction assay using greenhouse-grown Nepenthes pitcher fluids to confirm nitrogen fixation is indeed possible within the pitcher habitat. Results show active acetylene reduction can occur in Nepenthes pitcher fluid. Variation in nifH from wild samples correlates with Nepenthes host species identity and pitcher fluid acidity. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are associated with more neutral fluid pH, while endogenous Nepenthes digestive enzymes are most active at low fluid pH. We hypothesize Nepenthes species experience a trade-off in nitrogen acquisition; when fluids are acidic, nitrogen is primarily acquired via plant enzymatic degradation of insects, but when fluids are neutral, Nepenthes plants take up more nitrogen via bacterial nitrogen fixation.
Sierra-Botero L, Calonje M, Robbins RK, Rosser N, Pierce NE, López-Gallego C, Valencia-Montoya WA. Cycad phylogeny predicts host plant use of Eumaeus butterflies. Ecology and Evolution. 2023;13 (4) :e9978. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Abstract Eumaeus butterflies are obligate herbivores of Zamia, the most diverse neotropical genus of cycads. Eumaeus?Zamia interactions have been characterized mainly for species distributed in North and Central America. However, larval host plant use by the southern Eumaeus clade remains largely unknown, precluding a comprehensive study of co-evolution between the genera. Here, we combine fieldwork with museum and literature surveys to expand herbivory records for Eumaeus from 21 to 38 Zamia species. We inferred a time-calibrated phylogeny of Eumaeus to test for distinct macroevolutionary scenarios of larval host plant conservatism and co-evolution. We found a remarkable coincidence between Eumaeus and Zamia diversification, with the butterfly stem group diverging at the same time as the most recent radiation of Zamia in the Miocene. Cophylogenetic reconciliation analyses show a strong cophylogenetic signal between cycads and their butterfly herbivores. Bipartite model-based approaches indicate that this is because closely related Zamia species are used by the same Eumaeus species, suggesting larval host plant resource tracking by the butterfly herbivores. Our results highlight a case of tight evolution between Eumaeus butterflies and cycads, pointing to the generality of correlated evolution and phylogenetic tracking in plant?herbivore interactions across seed plants.
ecology_and_evolution_-_2023_-_sierra-botero_-_cycad_phylogeny_predicts_host_plant_use_of_eumaeus_butterflies.pdf
Wang Z, Chan W-P, Pham NTan, Zeng J, Pierce NE, Lohman DJ, Meng W. One in five butterfly species sold online across borders. 2023;283 :110092. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Humankind's appreciation for butterflies spans cultures and millennia, including the practice of assembling butterfly collections. We monitored the global e-commerce platform eBay.com for one year and obtained 50,555 time-stamped transactions of 3767 species (739 genera) of butterflies. This is nearly 20% of all butterfly species on Earth. A total of 552 sellers were based in 44 countries across five continents. At least 96% of the traded species required transportation of the specimen from its country of origin to its seller, usually from the Global South to the United States and Europe. To our knowledge, this is the most spatially and temporally detailed record of trans-boundary wildlife movement of any taxonomic group. We quantified the aesthetics of butterflies deemed desirable (e.g., size, shape, and color) and showed that while endangered species command higher prices, a butterfly's aesthetic ranking, not its range, abundance, nor phylogenetic status, best predicts its trade volume. These results emphasize the complicated interplay between wildlife market economics and human aesthetic appreciation.
1-s2.0-s0006320723001933-main.pdf
Lienard MA, Baez-Nieto D, Tsai C-C, Valencia-Montoya WA, Werin B, Johanson U, Lassance J-M, Pan JQ, Yu N, Pierce NE. Convergent evolution of noxious heat sensing by TRPA5, a novel class of heat sensor in Rhodnius prolixus. bioRxiv. 2023 :2023.05.26.542450. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Insects are ectotherms, and as such, rely on a diverse repertoire of thermoreceptors to monitor environmental temperature and control behavioral thermoregulation. Here, we use structural, phylogenetic, genetic, and functional analyses to show that TRPA5 genes, widespread across numerous insect orders, encode a novel class of noxious heat receptors. We show that in the triatomine bug Rhodnius prolixus, the primary vector of Chagas disease, Rp-TRPA52 differs biophysically and structurally from noxious thermoTRPAs previously described in insects. This includes key changes in the ankyrin repeat domain and the selectivity filter of the channel. In vitro, we find evidence that the homo-tetrameric channel is not activated by voltage, but displays high thermosensitivity with an enthalpy change (ΔH) of 72 kcal/mol associated with the channel activation, with a Q10 = 25 and T°half = 58.6°C. Structural analyses reveal parallels in the overall ion channel architecture between fruit fly TRPA1 and Rp-TRPA52; however, functional properties and expression patterns indicate that the role of Rp-TRPA52 is more similar to that of Pyrexia noxious heat receptors found in fruit flies. Pyrexia genes have been lost in true bugs, and our findings suggest that the rapidly evolving insect TRPA gene family has given rise to an independent evolutionary origin of a molecular transducer that is responsive to noxious thermal stimuli.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
2023.05.26.542450v1.full_.pdf
Childers RARabidea, Bernard GD, Huang H, Tsai C-C, Stoddard MCaswell, Hogan BG, Greenwood JSF, Soucy ER, Cornwall M, Lim MLek Min, et al. A hypothesis for robust polarization vision: an example from the Australian imperial blue butterfly, Jalmenus evagoras. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2023;226 (7). Publisher's VersionAbstract
The Australian lycaenid butterfly Jalmenus evagoras has iridescent wings that are sexually dimorphic, spectrally and in their degree of polarization, suggesting that these properties are likely to be important in mate recognition. We first describe the results of a field experiment showing that free-flying individuals of J. evagoras discriminate between visual stimuli that vary in polarization content in blue wavelengths but not in others. We then present detailed reflectance spectrophotometry measurements of the polarization content of male and female wings, showing that female wings exhibit blue-shifted reflectance, with a lower degree of polarization relative to male wings. Finally, we describe a novel method for measuring alignment of ommatidial arrays: by measuring variation of depolarized eyeshine intensity from patches of ommatidia as a function of eye rotation, we show that (a) individual rhabdoms contain mutually perpendicular microvilli; (b) many rhabdoms in the array have their microvilli misaligned with respect to neighboring rhabdoms by as much as 45 deg; and (c) the misaligned ommatidia are useful for robust polarization detection. By mapping the distribution of the ommatidial misalignments in eye patches of J. evagoras, we show that males and females exhibit differences in the extent to which ommatidia are aligned. Both the number of misaligned ommatidia suitable for robust polarization detection and the number of aligned ommatidia suitable for edge detection vary with respect to both sex and eye patch elevation. Thus, J. evagoras exhibits finely tuned ommatidial arrays suitable for perception of polarized signals, likely to match sex-specific life history differences in the utility of polarized signals.
jeb244515.pdf
Talavera G, García-Berro A, Talla VNK, Ng’iru I, Bahleman F, Kébé K, Nzala KM, Plasencia D, Marafi MAJ, Kassie A, et al. The Afrotropical breeding grounds of the Palearctic-African migratory painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2023;120 (16) :e2218280120. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Migratory insects are key players in ecosystem functioning and services, but their spatiotemporal distributions are typically poorly known. Ecological niche modeling (ENM) may be used to predict species seasonal distributions, but the resulting hypotheses should eventually be validated by field data. The painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) performs multigenerational migrations between Europe and Africa and has become a model species for insect movement ecology. While the annual migration cycle of this species is well understood for Europe and northernmost Africa, it is still unknown where most individuals spend the winter. Through ENM, we previously predicted suitable breeding grounds in the subhumid regions near the tropics between November and February. In this work, we assess the suitability of these predictions through i) extensive field surveys and ii) two-year monitoring in six countries: a large-scale monitoring scheme to study butterfly migration in Africa. We document new breeding locations, year-round phenological information, and hostplant use. Field observations were nearly always predicted with high probability by the previous ENM, and monitoring demonstrated the influence of the precipitation seasonality regime on migratory phenology. Using the updated dataset, we built a refined ENM for the Palearctic-African range of V. cardui. We confirm the relevance of the Afrotropical region and document the missing natural history pieces of the longest migratory cycle described in butterflies.
talavera_et_al_2023_pnas.pdf
Kawahara AY, Storer C, Carvalho APaula S, Plotkin DM, Condamine FL, Braga MP, Ellis EA, St Laurent RA, Li X, Barve V, et al. A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins. 2023;7 (6) :903 - 913. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Butterflies are a diverse and charismatic insect group that are thought to have evolved with plants and dispersed throughout the world in response to key geological events. However, these hypotheses have not been extensively tested because a comprehensive phylogenetic framework and datasets for butterfly larval hosts and global distributions are lacking. We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,300 butterfly species, sampled from 90 countries and 28 specimen collections, to reconstruct a new phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera. Our phylogeny has strong support for nearly all nodes and demonstrates that at least 36 butterfly tribes require reclassification. Divergence time analyses imply an origin ~100 million years ago for butterflies and indicate that all but one family were present before the K/Pg extinction event. We aggregated larval host datasets and global distribution records and found that butterflies are likely to have first fed on Fabaceae and originated in what is now the Americas. Soon after the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, butterflies crossed Beringia and diversified in the Palaeotropics. Our results also reveal that most butterfly species are specialists that feed on only one larval host plant family. However, generalist butterflies that consume two or more plant families usually feed on closely related plants.
s41559-023-02041-9.pdf
Espeland M, Chazot N, Condamine FL, Lemmon AR, Lemmon EM, Pringle E, Heath A, Collins S, Tiren W, Mutiso M, et al. Rapid radiation of ant parasitic butterflies during the Miocene aridification of Africa. Ecology and Evolution. 2023;13 (5) :e10046. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Abstract Africa has undergone a progressive aridification during the last 20 My that presumably impacted organisms and fostered the evolution of life history adaptations. We test the hypothesis that shift to living in ant nests and feeding on ant brood by larvae of phyto-predaceous Lepidochrysops butterflies was an adaptive response to the aridification of Africa that facilitated the subsequent radiation of butterflies in this genus. Using anchored hybrid enrichment we constructed a time-calibrated phylogeny for Lepidochrysops and its closest, non-parasitic relatives in the Euchrysops section (Poloyommatini). We estimated ancestral areas across the phylogeny with process-based biogeographical models and diversification rates relying on time-variable and clade-heterogeneous birth-death models. The Euchrysops section originated with the emerging Miombo woodlands about 22 million years ago (Mya) and spread to drier biomes as they became available in the late Miocene. The diversification of the non-parasitic lineages decreased as aridification intensified around 10 Mya, culminating in diversity decline. In contrast, the diversification of the phyto-predaceous Lepidochrysops lineage proceeded rapidly from about 6.5 Mya when this unusual life history likely first evolved. The Miombo woodlands were the cradle for diversification of the Euchrysops section, and our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that aridification during the Miocene selected for a phyto-predaceous life history in species of Lepidochrysops, with ant nests likely providing caterpillars a safe refuge from fire and a source of food when vegetation was scarce.
ecology_and_evolution_-_2023_-_espeland_-_rapid_radiation_of_ant_parasitic_butterflies_during_the_miocene_aridification_of.pdf
Jenny LA, Shapiro LR, Davis CC, T Davies J, Pierce NE, Meineke E. Herbarium specimens reveal herbivory patterns across the genus Cucurbita. American Journal of Botany. 2023;110 (2) :e16126. Publisher's Version 2021.07.21.452357.full_.pdf
García‐Berro A, Talla V, Vila R, Wai HKar, Shipilina D, Chan KGan, Pierce NE, Backström N, Talavera G. Migratory behaviour is positively associated with genetic diversity in butterflies. Molecular Ecology. 2023;32 (3) :560-574. Publisher's Version molecular_ecology_-_2022_-_garc_a-berro_-_migratory_behaviour_is_positively_associated_with_genetic_diversity_in.pdf
Salcedo MK, Jun BH, Socha JJ, Pierce NE, Vlachos PP, Combes SA. Complex hemolymph circulation patterns in grasshopper wings. 2023;6 (1) :313. Publisher's VersionAbstract
An insect’s living systems—circulation, respiration, and a branching nervous system—extend from the body into the wing. Wing hemolymph circulation is critical for hydrating tissues and supplying nutrients to living systems such as sensory organs across the wing. Despite the critical role of hemolymph circulation in maintaining healthy wing function, wings are often considered “lifeless” cuticle, and flows remain largely unquantified. High-speed fluorescent microscopy and particle tracking of hemolymph in the wings and body of the grasshopper Schistocerca americana revealed dynamic flow in every vein of the fore- and hindwings. The global system forms a circuit, but local flow behavior is complex, exhibiting three distinct types: pulsatile, aperiodic, and “leaky” flow. Thoracic wing hearts pull hemolymph from the wing at slower frequencies than the dorsal vessel; however, the velocity of returning hemolymph (in the hindwing) is faster than in that of the dorsal vessel. To characterize the wing’s internal flow mechanics, we mapped dimensionless flow parameters across the wings, revealing viscous flow regimes. Wings sustain ecologically important insect behaviors such as pollination and migration. Analysis of the wing circulatory system provides a template for future studies investigating the critical hemodynamics necessary to sustaining wing health and insect flight.
s42003-023-04651-2.pdf
Boyle J, Espeland M, Sáfián S, Ducarme R, Gardiner A, Coleman J, Heath A, Fisher S, Collins S, Martins D, et al. Phylogeny of the Poritiinae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), butterflies with ant associations and unusual lichenivorous diets. Systematic Entomology. 2023. Publisher's Version systematic_entomology_-_2023_-_boyle_-_phylogeny_of_the_poritiinae_lepidoptera_lycaenidae_butterflies_with_ant_1.pdf
2022
Carvalho APaula S, Owens HL, St Laurent RA, Earl C, Dexter KM, Messcher RL, Willmott KR, Aduse-Poku K, Collins SC, Homziak NT, et al. Diversification is correlated with temperature in white and sulfur butterflies. bioRxiv. 2022. Publisher's VersionAbstract
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.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
2022.09.22.509088v1.full_.pdf
Gutiérrez-García K, Whitaker MRL, Bustos-Díaz ED, Salzman S, Ramos-Aboites HE, Reitz ZL, Pierce NE, Cibrián-Jaramillo A, Barona-Gómez F. Specialized metabolic convergence in the gut microbiomes of cycad-feeding insects tolerant to β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA). bioRxiv. 2022. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Ingestion of the cycad toxins β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and azoxyglycosides is harmful to diverse organisms. However, some insects are specialized to feed on toxin-rich cycads with apparent immunity. Some cycad-feeding insects possess a common set of gut bacteria, which might play a role in detoxifying cycad toxins. Here, we investigated the composition of gut microbiota from a worldwide sample of cycadivorous insects and characterized the biosynthetic potential of bacteria isolated as putative keystone taxa. Cycadivorous insects shared a core gut microbiome consisting of six bacterial taxa, mainly belonging to the Proteobacteria, which we were able to isolate. To further investigate these potential keystone taxa from diverging lineages, we performed shotgun metagenomic sequencing of co-cultured bacterial sub-communities. We postulate and characterize four putative keystone bacteria from Serratia, Pantoea, and two different Stenotrophomonas lineages. The biosynthetic potential of these microorganisms includes a suite of biosynthetic gene clusters notably rich in siderophores and carotenoid-like aryl polyene pathways. Siderophore semi-untargeted metabolomics revealed a broad range of chemically related yet diverse iron-chelating metabolites, indicating a complex evolutionary landscape in which siderophores may have converged within the guts of cycadivorous insects. Among these, we provide evidence of the occurrence of an unprecedent desferrioxamine-like biosynthetic pathway that remains to be identified. These results provide a foundation for future investigations into how cycadivorous insects tolerate diets rich in azoxyglycosides, BMAA, and other cycad toxins, and highlight convergent evolution underlying chemical diversity.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
2022.12.01.518742v1.full_.pdf
Liénard MA, Valencia-Montoya WA, Pierce NE. Molecular advances to study the function, evolution and spectral tuning of arthropod visual opsins. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2022;377 :20210279. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Visual opsins of vertebrates and invertebrates diversified independently and converged to detect ultraviolet to long wavelengths (LW) of green or red light. In both groups, colour vision largely derives from opsin number, expression patterns and changes in amino acids interacting with the chromophore. Functional insights regarding invertebrate opsin evolution have lagged behind those for vertebrates because of the disparity in genomic resources and the lack of robust in vitro systems to characterize spectral sensitivities. Here, we review bioinformatic approaches to identify and model functional variation in opsins as well as recently developed assays to measure spectral phenotypes. In particular, we discuss how transgenic lines, cAMP-spectroscopy and sensitive heterologous expression platforms are starting to decouple genotype–phenotype relationships of LW opsins to complement the classical physiological-behavioural-phylogenetic toolbox of invertebrate visual sensory studies. We illustrate the use of one heterologous method by characterizing novel LW Gq opsins from 10 species, including diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera, a terrestrial dragonfly and an aquatic crustacean, expressing them in HEK293T cells, and showing that their maximum absorbance spectra (λmax) range from 518 to 611 nm. We discuss the advantages of molecular approaches for arthropods with complications such as restricted availability, lateral filters, specialized photochemistry and/or electrophysiological constraints. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods’.
rstb.2021.0279.pdf
Nunes R, Storer C, Doleck T, Kawahara AY, Pierce NE, Lohman DJ. Predictors of sequence capture in a large-scale anchored phylogenomics project. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 2022;10. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have revolutionized phylogenomics by decreasing the cost and time required to generate sequence data from multiple markers or whole genomes. Further, the fragmented DNA of biological specimens collected decades ago can be sequenced with NGS, reducing the need for collecting fresh specimens. Sequence capture, also known as anchored hybrid enrichment, is a method to produce reduced representation libraries for NGS sequencing. The technique uses single-stranded oligonucleotide probes that hybridize with pre-selected regions of the genome that are sequenced via NGS, culminating in a dataset of numerous orthologous loci from multiple taxa. Phylogenetic analyses using these sequences have the potential to resolve deep and shallow phylogenetic relationships. Identifying the factors that affect sequence capture success could save time, money, and valuable specimens that might be destructively sampled despite low likelihood of sequencing success. We investigated the impacts of specimen age, preservation method, and DNA concentration on sequence capture (number of captured sequences and sequence quality) while accounting for taxonomy and extracted tissue type in a large-scale butterfly phylogenomics project. This project used two probe sets to extract 391 loci or a subset of 13 loci from over 6,000 butterfly specimens. We found that sequence capture is a resilient method capable of amplifying loci in samples of varying age (0–111 years), preservation method (alcohol, papered, pinned), and DNA concentration (0.020 ng/μl - 316 ng/ul). Regression analyses demonstrate that sequence capture is positively correlated with DNA concentration. However, sequence capture and DNA concentration are negatively correlated with sample age and preservation method. Our findings suggest that sequence capture projects should prioritize the use of alcohol-preserved samples younger than 20 years old when available. In the absence of such specimens, dried samples of any age can yield sequence data, albeit with returns that diminish with increasing age.
fevo-10-943361.pdf
Shirey V, Larsen E, Doherty A, Kim CA, Al-Sulaiman FT, Hinolan JD, Itliong MGabriel A, Naive MArcebal K, Ku M, Belitz M, et al. LepTraits 1.0 A globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. 2022;9 (1) :382. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Here, we present the largest, global dataset of Lepidopteran traits, focusing initially on butterflies (ca. 12,500 species records). These traits are derived from field guides, taxonomic treatments, and other literature resources. We present traits on wing size, phenology,voltinism, diapause/overwintering stage, hostplant associations, and habitat affinities (canopy, edge, moisture, and disturbance). This dataset will facilitate comparative research on butterfly ecology and evolution and our goal is to inspire future research collaboration and the continued development of this dataset.
s41597-022-01473-5.pdf
Lin P-A, Chan W-P, Cai L, Dankowicz E, Gilbert K, Pierce NE, Felton G. Coevolution of Lepidoptera and their host plants: The Salient Aroma Hypothesis. 2022. Publisher's Version 2e7a3fba-450c-42ec-ac06-f9ed47d24a55.pdf
Kawahara AY, Storer C, Carvalho APaula S, Plotkin DM, Condamine F, Braga MP, Ellis EA, St Laurent RA, Li X, Barve V, et al. Evolution and Diversification Dynamics of Butterflies. bioRxiv. 2022. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Butterflies are a diverse and charismatic insect group that are thought to have diversified via coevolution with plants and in response to dispersals following key geological events. These hypotheses have been poorly tested at the macroevolutionary scale because a comprehensive phylogenetic framework and datasets on global distributions and larval hosts of butterflies are lacking. We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,000 butterfly species to construct a new, phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera and aggregated global distribution records and larval host datasets. We found that butterflies likely originated in what is now the Americas, \~100 Ma, shortly before the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, then crossed Beringia and diversified in the Paleotropics. The ancestor of modern butterflies likely fed on Fabaceae, and most extant families were present before the K/Pg extinction. The majority of butterfly dispersals occurred from the tropics (especially the Neotropics) to temperate zones, largely supporting a “cradle” pattern of diversification. Surprisingly, host breadth changes and shifts to novel host plants had only modest impacts.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
2022.05.17.491528.full_.pdf

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