Phylogeny and feeding trait evolution of the mega‐diverse Gelechioidea (Lepidoptera: Obtectomera): new insight from 19 nuclear genes

  • JAE‐CHEON SOHN
    Department of Entomology University of Maryland College Park MD U.S.A.
  • JEROME C. REGIER
    Department of Entomology University of Maryland College Park MD U.S.A.
  • CHARLES MITTER
    Department of Entomology University of Maryland College Park MD U.S.A.
  • DAVID ADAMSKI
    Department of Entomology National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Washington DC U.S.A.
  • JEAN‐FRANÇOIS LANDRY
    Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada, C.E.F. Ottawa Canada
  • MARIA HEIKKILÄ
    Department of Entomology National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Washington DC U.S.A.
  • KYU‐TEK PARK
    National Academy of Sciences Seoul Republic of Korea
  • TERRY HARRISON
    Department of Entomology University of Illinois Urbana IL U.S.A.
  • KIM MITTER
    Department of Entomology University of Maryland College Park MD U.S.A.
  • ANDREAS ZWICK
    Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO Ecosystem Science Canberra Australia
  • AKITO Y. KAWAHARA
    Florida Museum of Natural History/McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, University of Florida Gainesville FL U.S.A.
  • SOOWON CHO
    Department of Plant Medicine Chungbuk National University Cheongju Republic of Korea
  • MICHAEL P. CUMMINGS
    Laboratory of Molecular Evolution Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland College Park MD U.S.A.
  • PATRIC SCHMITZ
    PEPS University of Hawaii Honolulu HI U.S.A.

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">G</jats:styled-content>elechioidea (>18 000 species), one of the largest superfamilies of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">L</jats:styled-content>epidoptera, are a major element of terrestrial ecosystems and include important pests and biological model species. Despite much recent progress, our understanding of the classification, phylogeny and evolution of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">G</jats:styled-content>elechioidea remains limited. Building on recent molecular studies of this superfamily and a recently revised family/subfamily classification, we provide an independent estimate of among‐family relationships, with little overlap in gene sample. We analysed up to five nuclear genes, totalling 6633 bp, for each of 77 gelechioids, plus up to 14 additional genes, for a total of 14 826 bp, in 45 of those taxa and all 19 outgroup taxa. Our maximum‐likelihood (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">ML</jats:styled-content>) analyses, like those of previous authors, strongly support monophyly for most multiply‐sampled families and subfamilies, but very weakly support most relationships above the family level. Our tree looks superficially divergent from that of the most recent molecular study of gelechioids, but when the previous tree is re‐rooted to accord maximally with ours, the two phylogenies agree entirely on the deepest‐level divergences in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">G</jats:styled-content>elechioidea, and strongly though incompletely on among‐family relationships within the major groups. This concordance between independent studies is evidence that the groupings (or at least the unrooted branching order) are probably accurate, despite the low bootstrap values. After re‐rooting, both trees divide the families into three monophyletic groups: a ‘<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">G</jats:styled-content>elechiid <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ssemblage,’ consisting of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">G</jats:styled-content>elechiidae and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>osmopterigidae; a ‘<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>cythridid <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ssemblage,’ consisting of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>tathmopodidae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>cythrididae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">B</jats:styled-content>lastobasidae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>lachistidae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">M</jats:styled-content>omphidae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>oleophoridae and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">B</jats:styled-content>atrachedridae; and a ‘<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">D</jats:styled-content>epressariid <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ssemblage,’ consisting of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>utostichidae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">X</jats:styled-content>yloryctidae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">L</jats:styled-content>ecithoceridae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">O</jats:styled-content>ecophoridae, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">D</jats:styled-content>epressariidae and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">L</jats:styled-content>ypusidae. Within the largest family, Gelechiidae, our results strongly support the pairing of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>nomologinae with <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">G</jats:styled-content>elechiinae, in accordance with a recent study of this family. Relationships among the other subfamilies, however, conflict moderately to strongly between studies, leaving the intrafamily phylogeny unsettled. Within the ‘<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>cythridid <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ssemblage,’ both trees support an ‘<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SSB</jats:styled-content> clade’ consisting of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">B</jats:styled-content>lastobasidae + (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>cythrididae + <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>tathmopodidae), strongly resolved only in our results. Coleophoridae + <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">B</jats:styled-content>atrachedridae is supported, albeit weakly, in both trees, and only <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">M</jats:styled-content>omphidae differ in position between studies. Within the ‘<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">D</jats:styled-content>epressariid <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ssemblage,’ both trees support an ‘<jats:styled-content style="fixed-c ...

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