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A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins.


ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: Kawahara AY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10250192 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins.

Kawahara Akito Y AY   Storer Caroline C   Carvalho Ana Paula S APS   Plotkin David M DM   Condamine Fabien L FL   Braga Mariana P MP   Ellis Emily A EA   St Laurent Ryan A RA   Li Xuankun X   Barve Vijay V   Cai Liming L   Earl Chandra C   Frandsen Paul B PB   Owens Hannah L HL   Valencia-Montoya Wendy A WA   Aduse-Poku Kwaku K   Toussaint Emmanuel F A EFA   Dexter Kelly M KM   Doleck Tenzing T   Markee Amanda A   Messcher Rebeccah R   Nguyen Y-Lan YL   Badon Jade Aster T JAT   Benítez Hugo A HA   Braby Michael F MF   Buenavente Perry A C PAC   Chan Wei-Ping WP   Collins Steve C SC   Rabideau Childers Richard A RA   Dankowicz Even E   Eastwood Rod R   Fric Zdenek F ZF   Gott Riley J RJ   Hall Jason P W JPW   Hallwachs Winnie W   Hardy Nate B NB   Sipe Rachel L Hawkins RLH   Heath Alan A   Hinolan Jomar D JD   Homziak Nicholas T NT   Hsu Yu-Feng YF   Inayoshi Yutaka Y   Itliong Micael G A MGA   Janzen Daniel H DH   Kitching Ian J IJ   Kunte Krushnamegh K   Lamas Gerardo G   Landis Michael J MJ   Larsen Elise A EA   Larsen Torben B TB   Leong Jing V JV   Lukhtanov Vladimir V   Maier Crystal A CA   Martinez Jose I JI   Martins Dino J DJ   Maruyama Kiyoshi K   Maunsell Sarah C SC   Mega Nicolás Oliveira NO   Monastyrskii Alexander A   Morais Ana B B ABB   Müller Chris J CJ   Naive Mark Arcebal K MAK   Nielsen Gregory G   Padrón Pablo Sebastián PS   Peggie Djunijanti D   Romanowski Helena Piccoli HP   Sáfián Szabolcs S   Saito Motoki M   Schröder Stefan S   Shirey Vaughn V   Soltis Doug D   Soltis Pamela P   Sourakov Andrei A   Talavera Gerard G   Vila Roger R   Vlasanek Petr P   Wang Houshuai H   Warren Andrew D AD   Willmott Keith R KR   Yago Masaya M   Jetz Walter W   Jarzyna Marta A MA   Breinholt Jesse W JW   Espeland Marianne M   Ries Leslie L   Guralnick Robert P RP   Pierce Naomi E NE   Lohman David J DJ  

Nature ecology & evolution 20230515 6


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 phyloge  ...[more]

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