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First comprehensive higher level phylogeny of Zygaenidae (Lepidoptera) including estimated ages of the major lineages and a review of known zygaenid fossils

Mirić, Mirela LU orcid ; Efetov, Konstantin A. ; Tarmann, Gerhard M. ; Chiocchio, Andrea LU ; Heikkilä, Maria ; Wagner, David L. and Rota, Jadranka LU orcid (2024) In Systematic Entomology
Abstract

Zygaenidae, also known as burnet, forester, smoky, or leaf skeletonizer moths, are a family of mainly diurnal moths well known for their aposematic colouration and the ability to release hydrogen cyanide as a defence mechanism. So far, few attempts have been made to understand the evolutionary history of the global zygaenid fauna. Here, we inferred the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny for Zygaenidae to date and estimated the lineage timing-of-divergence with a Bayesian approach. Building on earlier work, we significantly increased the taxon and gene sampling for the family, which here included data from 30 gene fragments, recovered from public databases or newly sequenced, for almost 30% of the species representing 92 genera (49%)... (More)

Zygaenidae, also known as burnet, forester, smoky, or leaf skeletonizer moths, are a family of mainly diurnal moths well known for their aposematic colouration and the ability to release hydrogen cyanide as a defence mechanism. So far, few attempts have been made to understand the evolutionary history of the global zygaenid fauna. Here, we inferred the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny for Zygaenidae to date and estimated the lineage timing-of-divergence with a Bayesian approach. Building on earlier work, we significantly increased the taxon and gene sampling for the family, which here included data from 30 gene fragments, recovered from public databases or newly sequenced, for almost 30% of the species representing 92 genera (49%) and all five subfamilies. We recovered strong support for the monophyly of Zygaenidae, Chalcosiinae, and Zygaeninae. Procridinae were recovered as monophyletic with low support, whereas the monophyly of Callizygaeninae remains untested as we sampled only one of the two genera. In the core dataset, we recovered Procridinae as sister to Callizygaeninae + Chalcosiinae. This large clade is the sister lineage to Zygaeninae. The position of Inouelinae could not be resolved. The lineage leading to the extant Zygaenidae appears to have diverged in Late Cretaceous (ca. 86 Ma), while the divergence among the subfamilies occurred several million years before the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event (ca. 66 Ma). Additionally, we provide a review of known fossil Zygaenidae as Appendix S1. Our results form a strong basis for future studies of zygaenid biosystematics, including their ecology, evolution, and behaviour.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Callizygaeninae, Chalcosiinae, fossils, molecular phylogeny, Procridinae, Zygaeninae
in
Systematic Entomology
pages
14 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85191244980
ISSN
0307-6970
DOI
10.1111/syen.12634
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. Systematic Entomology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society.
id
1a378ccd-a2e2-4c28-9213-3a11c43eb11a
date added to LUP
2024-05-05 07:47:53
date last changed
2024-05-21 11:10:58
@article{1a378ccd-a2e2-4c28-9213-3a11c43eb11a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Zygaenidae, also known as burnet, forester, smoky, or leaf skeletonizer moths, are a family of mainly diurnal moths well known for their aposematic colouration and the ability to release hydrogen cyanide as a defence mechanism. So far, few attempts have been made to understand the evolutionary history of the global zygaenid fauna. Here, we inferred the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny for Zygaenidae to date and estimated the lineage timing-of-divergence with a Bayesian approach. Building on earlier work, we significantly increased the taxon and gene sampling for the family, which here included data from 30 gene fragments, recovered from public databases or newly sequenced, for almost 30% of the species representing 92 genera (49%) and all five subfamilies. We recovered strong support for the monophyly of Zygaenidae, Chalcosiinae, and Zygaeninae. Procridinae were recovered as monophyletic with low support, whereas the monophyly of Callizygaeninae remains untested as we sampled only one of the two genera. In the core dataset, we recovered Procridinae as sister to Callizygaeninae + Chalcosiinae. This large clade is the sister lineage to Zygaeninae. The position of Inouelinae could not be resolved. The lineage leading to the extant Zygaenidae appears to have diverged in Late Cretaceous (ca. 86 Ma), while the divergence among the subfamilies occurred several million years before the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event (ca. 66 Ma). Additionally, we provide a review of known fossil Zygaenidae as Appendix S1. Our results form a strong basis for future studies of zygaenid biosystematics, including their ecology, evolution, and behaviour.</p>}},
  author       = {{Mirić, Mirela and Efetov, Konstantin A. and Tarmann, Gerhard M. and Chiocchio, Andrea and Heikkilä, Maria and Wagner, David L. and Rota, Jadranka}},
  issn         = {{0307-6970}},
  keywords     = {{Callizygaeninae; Chalcosiinae; fossils; molecular phylogeny; Procridinae; Zygaeninae}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Systematic Entomology}},
  title        = {{First comprehensive higher level phylogeny of Zygaenidae (Lepidoptera) including estimated ages of the major lineages and a review of known zygaenid fossils}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/syen.12634}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/syen.12634}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}