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Systematics and origin of moths in the subfamily Arctiinae (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) in the Neotropical region

Zenker, Mauricio M. ; Wahlberg, Niklas LU ; Brehm, Gunnar ; Teston, José A. ; Przybylowicz, Lukasz ; Pie, Marcio R. and Freitas, André V L (2017) In Zoologica Scripta 46(3). p.348-362
Abstract

The availability of standard protocols to obtain DNA sequences has allowed the inference of phylogenetic Hypotheses for many taxa, including moths. We here have inferred a phylogeny using maximum-Likelihood and Bayesian approaches for a species-rich group of moths (Erebidae, Arctiinae), with strong emphasis on Neotropical genera collected in different field campaigns in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, eastern Amazon and southern Ecuador. A total of 277 species belonging to 246 genera were included in the analysis. Our main objectives were to shed light on the relationships between suprageneric groups, especially subtribes, and hypothesize colonization events in and out of the Neotropics. The monophyly of Arctiinae and its four tribes... (More)

The availability of standard protocols to obtain DNA sequences has allowed the inference of phylogenetic Hypotheses for many taxa, including moths. We here have inferred a phylogeny using maximum-Likelihood and Bayesian approaches for a species-rich group of moths (Erebidae, Arctiinae), with strong emphasis on Neotropical genera collected in different field campaigns in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, eastern Amazon and southern Ecuador. A total of 277 species belonging to 246 genera were included in the analysis. Our main objectives were to shed light on the relationships between suprageneric groups, especially subtribes, and hypothesize colonization events in and out of the Neotropics. The monophyly of Arctiinae and its four tribes (Lithosiini, Amerilini, Syntomini and Arctiini) was recovered in the ML and Bayesian trees. Three Lithosiini subtribes previously found and two additional species groups were recovered monophyletic in both phylogenetic estimation methods. In Arctiini, the monophyly of Spilosomina and Arctiina was highly supported in the ML and Bayesian trees, but the monophyly of Ctenuchina and Echromiina was weakly supported in the ML tree and absent in the Bayesian tree; the remaining subtribes were paraphyletic and, in the case of Phageopterina, formed several species groups. The mapping of species occurrence in our ML tree suggests that Arctiinae have an Old World origin and that the Neotropical region was colonized at least six times independently. Our analysis also suggests that a number of species that occur in Neotropical and other zoogeographic regions may have originated in the Neotropics, although further taxon sampling is required to support this hypothesis. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a highly speciose group of tropical moths is well covered in a phylogeny, and it seems plausible that the results reported here may be extendable to other species-rich tropical undersampled moth taxa.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Zoologica Scripta
volume
46
issue
3
pages
348 - 362
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:84979622744
  • wos:000403066100008
ISSN
0300-3256
DOI
10.1111/zsc.12202
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5499616c-0778-4a09-9aa1-e71b6da9333a
date added to LUP
2016-09-08 12:07:05
date last changed
2024-05-31 12:38:06
@article{5499616c-0778-4a09-9aa1-e71b6da9333a,
  abstract     = {{<p>The availability of standard protocols to obtain DNA sequences has allowed the inference of phylogenetic Hypotheses for many taxa, including moths. We here have inferred a phylogeny using maximum-Likelihood and Bayesian approaches for a species-rich group of moths (Erebidae, Arctiinae), with strong emphasis on Neotropical genera collected in different field campaigns in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, eastern Amazon and southern Ecuador. A total of 277 species belonging to 246 genera were included in the analysis. Our main objectives were to shed light on the relationships between suprageneric groups, especially subtribes, and hypothesize colonization events in and out of the Neotropics. The monophyly of Arctiinae and its four tribes (Lithosiini, Amerilini, Syntomini and Arctiini) was recovered in the ML and Bayesian trees. Three Lithosiini subtribes previously found and two additional species groups were recovered monophyletic in both phylogenetic estimation methods. In Arctiini, the monophyly of Spilosomina and Arctiina was highly supported in the ML and Bayesian trees, but the monophyly of Ctenuchina and Echromiina was weakly supported in the ML tree and absent in the Bayesian tree; the remaining subtribes were paraphyletic and, in the case of Phageopterina, formed several species groups. The mapping of species occurrence in our ML tree suggests that Arctiinae have an Old World origin and that the Neotropical region was colonized at least six times independently. Our analysis also suggests that a number of species that occur in Neotropical and other zoogeographic regions may have originated in the Neotropics, although further taxon sampling is required to support this hypothesis. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a highly speciose group of tropical moths is well covered in a phylogeny, and it seems plausible that the results reported here may be extendable to other species-rich tropical undersampled moth taxa.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zenker, Mauricio M. and Wahlberg, Niklas and Brehm, Gunnar and Teston, José A. and Przybylowicz, Lukasz and Pie, Marcio R. and Freitas, André V L}},
  issn         = {{0300-3256}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{348--362}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Zoologica Scripta}},
  title        = {{Systematics and origin of moths in the subfamily Arctiinae (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) in the Neotropical region}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12202}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/zsc.12202}},
  volume       = {{46}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}