| 1. |
- Janz, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
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Diversity begets diversity : host expansions and the diversification of plant-feeding insects
- 2006
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Ingår i: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - 1471-2148. ; 6:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Plant-feeding insects make up a large part of earth's total biodiversity. While it has been shown that herbivory has repeatedly led to increased diversification rates in insects, there has been no compelling explanation for how plant-feeding has promoted speciation rates. There is a growing awareness that ecological factors can lead to rapid diversification and, as one of the most prominent features of most insect-plant interactions, specialization onto a diverse resource has often been assumed to be the main process behind this diversification. However, specialization is mainly a pruning process, and is not able to actually generate diversity by itself. Here we investigate the role of host colonizations in generating insect diversity, by testing if insect speciation rate is correlated with resource diversity.Results: By applying a variant of independent contrast analysis, specially tailored for use on questions of species richness (MacroCAIC), we show that species richness is strongly correlated with diversity of host use in the butterfly family Nymphalidae. Furthermore, by comparing the results from reciprocal sister group selection, where sister groups were selected either on the basis of diversity of host use or species richness, we find that it is likely that diversity of host use is driving species richness, rather than vice versa.Conclusion: We conclude that resource diversity is correlated with species richness in the Nymphalidae and suggest a scenario based on recurring oscillations between host expansions – the incorporation of new plants into the repertoire – and specialization, as an important driving force behind the diversification of plant-feeding insects.
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| 2. |
- Janz, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
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On oscillations and flutterings-A reply to Hamm and Fordyce
- 2016
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Ingår i: Evolution. - : Wiley. - 0014-3820 .- 1558-5646. ; 70:5, s. 1150-1155
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The diversification of plant-feeding insects is seen as a spectacular example of evolutionary radiation. Hence, developing hypotheses to explain this diversification, and methods to test them, is an important undertaking. Some years ago, we presented the oscillation hypothesis as a general process that could drive diversification of this and similar interactions, through repeated expansions and contractions of host ranges. Hamm and Fordyce recently presented a study with the outspoken intention of testing this hypothesis where they concluded that the oscillation hypothesis was not supported. We point out several problems with their study, owing both to a misrepresentation of our hypothesis and to the methods. We provide a clarifying description of the oscillation hypothesis, and detail some predictions that follow from it. A reanalysis of the data demonstrated a troubling sensitivity of the "SSE" class of models to small changes in model specification, and we caution against using them for tests of trait-based diversification. Future tests of the hypothesis also need to better acknowledge the processes behind the host range oscillations. We suspect that doing so will resolve some of the apparent conflicts between our hypothesis and the view presented by Hamm and Fordyce.
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| 3. |
- Ma, Lijun, et al.
(författare)
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A phylogenomic tree inferred with an inexpensive PCR-generated probe kit resolves higher-level relationships among Neptis butterflies (Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae)
- 2020
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Ingår i: Systematic Entomology. - : Wiley. - 0307-6970 .- 1365-3113. ; 45:4, s. 924-934
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent advances in obtaining reduced representation libraries for next-generation sequencing permit phylogenomic analysis of species-rich, recently diverged taxa. In this study, we performed sequence capture with homemade PCR-generated probes to study diversification among closely related species in a large insect genus to examine the utility of this method. We reconstructed the phylogeny of Neptis Fabricius, a large and poorly studied nymphalid butterfly genus distributed throughout the Old World. We inferred relationships among 108 Neptis samples using 89 loci totaling up to 84 519 bp per specimen. Our taxon sample focused on Palearctic, Oriental and Australasian species, but included 8 African species and outgroups from 5 related genera. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses yielded identical trees with full support for almost all nodes. We confirmed that Neptis is not monophyletic because Lasippa heliodore (Fabricius) and Phaedyma amphion (Linnaeus) are nested within the genus, and we redefine species groups for Neptis found outside of Africa. The statistical support of our results demonstrates that the probe set we employed is useful for inferring phylogenetic relationships among Neptis species and likely has great value for intrageneric phylogenetic reconstruction of Lepidoptera. Based on our results, we revise the following two taxa: Neptis heliodore comb. rev. and Neptis amphion comb. rev.
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| 4. |
- Roger, Fabian, et al.
(författare)
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Airborne environmental DNA metabarcoding for the monitoring of terrestrial insects—A proof of concept from the field
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environmental DNA. - : Wiley. - 2637-4943. ; 4:4, s. 790-807
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biodiversity is in decline due to human-induced pressures on ecosystems around the world. To be able to counteract this alarming trend, it is paramount to closely monitor biodiversity at global scales. Because this is practically impossible with traditional methods, the last decade has seen a strong push for new solutions. In aquatic ecosystems, the monitoring of species from environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, but in terrestrial ecosystems, the power of eDNA for monitoring has so far been hampered by the local scale of the samples. In this study, we report the successful detection of insects from airborne eDNA from samples taken in the field. We compare our results to two traditional insect monitoring methods (1) light traps for moth monitoring and (2) transect walks for the monitoring of butterflies and wild bees. Airborne eDNA metabarcoding revealed DNA from six classes of arthropods, and twelve order of insects—including representatives from the four largest orders: Diptera (flies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles), and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants). We did not detect all species observed using traditional methods and suggest further directions for the development of airborne eDNA metabarcoding. We also recovered DNA from nine species of vertebrates, including frogs, birds, and mammals as well as from 12 other phyla. Airborne eDNA has the potential to become a powerful tool for terrestrial biodiversity monitoring, with many impactful applications including the monitoring of pests, invasive, or endangered species and disease vectors.
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| 5. |
- Schäpers, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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Clutch size and host use in butterflies - and how to measure diet breadth
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The utilization of host plants is a central aspect of herbivorous insect life-history and known to promote processes of diversification in this group. In species that aggregate their eggs, female selection of a suitable egg-laying site is especially important, since a large proportion of the realized fitness will depend on few oviposition events. A cluster of larvae also requires a large resource to complete development and thus resource size may further limit the range of suitable hosts. We investigated whether there is a relationship between clutch size and diet breadth for 206 nymphalid butterfly species, using phylogenetic comparative methods. Results were consistent across several taxonomic and phylogenetic diet breadth measures, suggesting that some taxonomic measures may be as good approximations as the more cumbersome estimates based on phylogenetic distance. Treating diet breadth and clutch size as continuous data indicated no relationship between the traits, while categorizing them into binary form showed that they evolve in a correlated fashion. The discordance between analyses indicated that clutch size may be constrained among extreme generalists, as polyphagous clutch layers were rare. We found clutch-laying to be a relatively conserved trait in the phylogeny and less flexible than variation in degree of host plant specialization. Host plant growth form did not influence the clutch size diet breath relationship, but was weakly correlated with both factors. We discuss the general role of conservative life-history traits, such as clutch size, for the evolutionary dynamics of more labile traits such as diet breadth among phytophagous insects.
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| 6. |
- Wang, Houshuai, et al.
(författare)
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Polyphagy and diversification in tussock moths : Support for the oscillation hypothesis from extreme generalists
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 7:19, s. 7975-7986
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Theory on plasticity driving speciation, as applied to insect-plant interactions (the oscillation hypothesis), predicts more species in clades with higher diversity of host use, all else being equal. Previous support comes mainly from specialized herbivores such as butterflies, and plasticity theory suggests that there may be an upper host range limit where host diversity no longer promotes diversification. The tussock moths (Erebidae: Lymantriinae) are known for extreme levels of polyphagy. We demonstrate that this system is also very different from butterflies in terms of phylogenetic signal for polyphagy and for use of specific host orders. Yet we found support for the generality of the oscillation hypothesis, in that clades with higher diversity of host use were found to contain more species. These clades also consistently contained the most polyphagous single species. Comparing host use in Lymantriinae with related taxa shows that the taxon indeed stands out in terms of the frequency of polyphagous species. Comparative evidence suggests that this is most probably due to its nonfeeding adults, with polyphagy being part of a resulting life history syndrome. Our results indicate that even high levels of plasticity can drive diversification, at least when the levels oscillate over time.
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| 7. |
- Aduse-Poku, Kwaku, et al.
(författare)
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Expanded molecular phylogeny of the genus Bicyclus (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae) shows the importance of increased sampling for detecting semi-cryptic species and highlights potentials for future studies
- 2017
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Ingår i: Systematics and Biodiversity. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1477-2000 .- 1478-0933. ; 15:2, s. 115-130
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The genus Bicyclus is one of the largest groups of African butterflies, but due to the generally cryptic nature and seasonal variation of adult wing patterns, there has been a lot of systematic confusion. With a large research community working with the model species Bicyclus anynana there has been increasing interest in the evolutionary history of the genus. A previous phylogeny started to unravel interesting patterns, but only included 61% of the then known species. With a range of new species having been described in the last decade there has been a need for an updated phylogeny for the genus. We present the most complete phylogeny of Bicyclus yet, including 93% of the currently 103 recognized species and make a range of taxonomic revisions. We revise the status of four previous subspecies and synonymized taxa that in the light of the new genetic data are raised to species level. We also subsume two subspecies and describe a new species, Bicyclus collinsi sp. nov., based on both genetic and morphological evidence. A further new taxon is identified, but not described at this point due to lack of morphological data. Our phylogeny lays a solid foundation for better understanding the evolution of Bicyclus and highlights key species-groups and complexes with intriguing ecological patterns making them prime candidates for future studies. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2F775351-097E-4CD7-8F8F-A90B26D52DE8
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| 8. |
- Aduse-Poku, Kwaku, et al.
(författare)
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Miocene Climate and Habitat Change Drove Diversification in Bicyclus, Africa's Largest Radiation of Satyrine Butterflies
- 2022
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Ingår i: Systematic Biology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1063-5157 .- 1076-836X. ; 71:3, s. 570-588
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Compared to other regions, the drivers of diversification in Africa are poorly understood. We studied a radiation of insects with over 100 species occurring in a wide range of habitats across the Afrotropics to investigate the fundamental evolutionary processes and geological events that generate and maintain patterns of species richness on the continent. By investigating the evolutionary history of Bicyclus butterflies within a phylogenetic framework, we inferred the group's origin at the Oligo-Miocene boundary from ancestors in the Congolian rainforests of central Africa. Abrupt climatic fluctuations during the Miocene (ca. 19-17 Ma) likely fragmented ancestral populations, resulting in at least eight early-divergent lineages. Only one of these lineages appears to have diversified during the drastic climate and biome changes of the early Miocene, radiating into the largest group of extant species. The other seven lineages diversified in forest ecosystems during the late Miocene and Pleistocene when climatic conditions were more favorable-warmer and wetter. Our results suggest changing Neogene climate, uplift of eastern African orogens, and biotic interactions have had different effects on the various subclades of Bicyclus, producing one of the most spectacular butterfly radiations in Africa. [Afrotropics; biodiversity; biome; biotic interactions; Court Jester; extinction; grasslands; paleoclimates; Red Queen; refugia forests; dependent-diversification; speciation.].
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| 9. |
- Aduse-Poku, Kwaku, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular phylogeny and generic-level taxonomy of the widespread palaeotropical 'Heteropsis clade' (Nymphalidae : Satyrinae: Mycalesina)
- 2016
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Ingår i: Systematic Entomology. - : Wiley. - 0307-6970. ; 41:4, s. 717-731
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mycalesine butterfly genus Heteropsis Westwood, 1850 (Satyrinae: Mycalesina) has recently been conceived to be represented in three major palaeotropical regions (Madagascar, Africa and Asia), but there has been no formal taxonomic treatment covering this entire group. Studies aimed at understanding the evolutionary success of Mycalesina in the Old World tropics have been hampered by the lack of both a robust phylogeny and a stable nomenclature for this satyrine subtribe. Here, we present a well-supported molecular phylogeny based on 10 genes and 133 exemplar taxa, representing almost all known species groups of Heteropsis (s.l.), and including all but four known species in Madagascar. We also combine sequences of the exemplars with a morphological matrix of 428 characters. The widespread 'Heteropsis clade' is confirmed as monophyletic, but lineages in different geographic regions also form endemic and well-supported clades with deep divergences among them. Here we establish this group as comprising three genera, Heteropsis (Malagasy region only), Telinga Moore, 1880 (Asia), and Brakefieldia gen.n. (Africa). We recover the genera Telinga and Brakefieldia as sisters with high support. Each genus is taxonomically characterized and a revised synonymic checklist is appended with new combinations and some changes in rank. With a well-resolved topology and updates to the taxonomy of the group, researchers are now in a position to explore the drivers of the spectacular radiation of the group, notably in Madagascar, where the highest phenotypic and species diversity occurs.
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| 10. |
- Aduse-Poku, Kwaku, et al.
(författare)
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Systematics and historical biogeography of the Old World butterfly subtribe Mycalesina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)
- 2015
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Ingår i: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2148. ; 15, s. 167-167
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Butterflies of the subtribe Mycalesina have radiated successfully in almost all habitat types in Africa, Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent, Indo-China and Australasia. Studies aimed at understanding the reasons behind the evolutionary success of this spectacular Old World butterfly radiation have been hampered by the lack of a stable phylogeny for the group. Here, we have reconstructed a robust phylogenetic framework for the subtribe using 10 genes from 195 exemplar taxa. RESULTS: We recovered seven well supported clades within the subtribe corresponding to the five traditional genera (Lohora, Heteropsis, Hallelesis, Bicyclus, Mycalesis), one as recently revised (Mydosama) and one newly revised genus (Culapa). The phylogenetic relationships of these mycalesine genera have been robustly established for the first time. Within the proposed phylogenetic framework, we estimated the crown age of the subtribe to be 40 Million years ago (Mya) and inferred its ultimate origin to be in Asia. Our results reveal both vicariance and dispersal as factors responsible for the current widespread distribution of the group in the Old World tropics. We inferred that the African continent has been colonized at least twice by Asian mycalesines within the last 26 and 23 Mya. In one possible scenario, an Asian ancestor gave rise to Heteropsis on continental Africa, which later dispersed into Madagascar and most likely back colonised Asia. The second colonization of Africa by Asian ancestors resulted in Hallelesis and Bicyclus on continental Africa, the descendants of which did not colonise other regions but rather diversified only in continental Africa. The genera Lohora and Mydosama are derivatives of ancestors from continental Asia. CONCLUSION: Our proposed time-calibrated phylogeny now provides a solid framework within which we can implement mechanistic studies aimed at unravelling the ecological and evolutionary processes that culminated in the spectacular radiation of mycalesines in the Old World tropics.
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