Conservation Note on the Status of the Rare Endemic Marquesan Snout Butterfly, Libythea collenettei

The Marquesan snout butterfly (Libythea collenettei) also known as “Papillon à museau des Marquises,” is the only endemic butterfly from the Mar- quesas Islands, French Polynesia. The butterfly is known from just five historic records. We report results from an intensive two–week survey in 2018. Our survey took place on the two islands where historic collection records exist (Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou), plus Hiva Oa and Tahiti, where the species has been thought to exist. Despite visiting multiple localities including sites where the species was previously observed, we were unsuccessful at detecting this species. The larval host plant, Celtis pacifica (Cannabaceae), can still be found on the Marquesas, indicating that the butterfly might still exist in the archipelago. Because the phenology of this species is unknown, future surveys should be conducted on the same islands but during different seasons. Given the very restricted geographic range of this species and threats to its habitat, we suggest that it be listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List

Alignments

Original and cleaned alignment files

Data from: Transoceanic origin of microendemic and flightless New Caledonian weevils

The origin of the astonishing New Caledonian biota continues to fuel a heated debate among advocates of a Gondwanan relict scenario and defenders of late oceanic dispersal. Here, we study the origin of New Caledonian Trigonopterus flightless weevils using a multimarker molecular phylogeny. We infer two independent clades of species found in the archipelago. Our dating estimates suggest a Late Miocene origin of both clades long after the re-emergence of New Caledonia about 37 Ma. The estimation of ancestral ranges supports an ancestral origin of the genus in a combined region encompassing Australia and New Guinea with subsequent colonizations of New Caledonia out of New Guinea in the mid-Miocene. The two New Caledonian lineages have had very different evolutionary trajectories. Colonizers belonging to a clade of foliage dwellers greatly diversified, whereas species inhabiting leaf-litter have been less successful

Data matrices and tree files

Data matrices and tree files from ASTRAL, IQTREE and TNT analyses

Data from: Origin and macroevolution of micro-moths on sunken Hawaiian islands

The origins and evolution of Hawaiian biodiversity are a matter of controversy, and the mechanisms of lineage diversification for many organisms on this remote archipelago remain unclear. Here we focus on the poorly-known endemic leaf-mining moth genus Philodoria (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae), whose species feed on a diversity of Hawaiian plant lineages, many of which are critically endangered. We use anchored hybrid enrichment to assemble the first phylogenomic dataset (507 loci) for any Hawaiian animal taxon. To uncover the timing and pattern of diversification of these moths, we apply two frequently used dating calibration strategies, biogeographic calibrations and secondary calibrations. Island calibrations on their own resulted in much younger and unrealistic dates compared to strategies that relied on secondary calibrations. Our dating results indicate that Philodoria is among the oldest known Hawaiian arthropod lineages. Philodoria likely originated on the now partially sunken islands of Laysan or Lisianski, approximately 21 million years ago, and were associated with host plants in the families Ebenaceae, Malvaceae, or Primulaceae. Major feeding groups associated with specific host plant families originated soon after the plants colonize the islands. Allopatric isolation and host shifts, in concert and independently, likely play major roles in the diversification of Philodoria

Molecular phylogenetics of Atlantic Shield <i>Platynectes</i> diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae): a first glance at the evolution of the genus in the Amazon Basin

<p>Neotropical diving beetles of the genus <i>Platynectes</i> are distributed across Central America, the Andes and different Precambrian shields in the Amazon Basin. Species from the northern Guiana Shield form a monophyletic clade, yet the phylogenetic relationships of the eastern Atlantic Shield species remain unknown. Here, we augmented an existing molecular dataset with a species from the Atlantic Shield that was not previously sampled. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships and estimated divergence times to understand the evolution of lineages dwelling in this region. The newly sampled specimens from the Atlantic Shield are recovered as sister taxa to Guiana Shield species. The dating analyses suggest a split between these two lineages in the late Oligocene to mid-Miocene, contemporary with the Miocenic geological remodeling of the Amazon Basin. Additional sampling in the Atlantic and Central Brazilian Shields will be determinant to test the monophyly of <i>Platynectes</i> species distributed in these ancient shields, and to fully understand the biogeographical history of diving beetles in the Amazon Basin.</p

The towering orogeny of New Guinea as a trigger for arthropod megadiversity

Early studies on Melanesian mountain systems provided insights for fundamental evolutionary and ecological concepts. These island-like systems are thought to provide opportunities in the form of newly formed, competition-free niches. Here we show that a hyperdiverse radiation of freshwater arthropods originated in the emerging central New Guinea orogen, out of Australia, about 10 million years ago. Further diversification was mainly allopatric, with repeated more recent colonization of lowlands as they emerged in the form of colliding oceanic island arcs, continental fragments and the Papuan Peninsula, as well as recolonization of the central orogen. We unveil a constant and ongoing process of lineage accumulation while the carrying capacity of the island is about to be reached, suggesting that lineage diversification speed now exceeds that of landmass/new ecological opportunity formation. Therefore, the central orogeny of New Guinea acts as a motor of diversification for the entire region. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.Funding came from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (BA2152/3-1; 4-1; 7-1; 11-1), the UK DEFRA Darwin Initiative (14054) and the FWF (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung - the Austrian Science Fund, project P 24312-B17 to H. ShaverdoPeer Reviewe

Integrative taxonomy reveals six new species related to the Mediterranean corn stalk borer Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefèbvre) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Sesamiina)

Species in the stem borer noctuid subtribe Sesamiina are notoriously difficult to distinguish because most related species have homogeneous wing patterns and almost indistinguishable genitalia. The latter is potentially problematic because this group includes several important pest species that are usually baregly distinguishable from non-pest species. In this study we focus on the Mediterranean corn stalk borer Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefèbvre), an important pest of maize with a wide area of distribution that covers most of Africa and extends to the south of Europe and western Asia. According to a recent study, this pest consists of three allopatric populations that were formerly considered as distinct species or subspecies. Here we rely on recent collections of 5470 specimens (sampled in 17 countries and 175 localities) that putatively belong to S. nonagrioides. Integrative taxonomy studies allowed us to unravel the existence of six new species that are closely related to S. nonagrioides and described in this paper. In contrast to S. nonagrioides these new species have more specific ecological preferences, as they are associated with a limited number of plant species and habitats. Dating and population genetic analyses carried out on 100 S. nonagrioides specimens also indicate a more complex population structure than previously thought for S. nonagrioides, which can probably be accounted for by late Cenozoic environmental change

Mezcal worm in a bottle: DNA evidence suggests a single moth species

Mezcals are distilled Mexican alcoholic beverages consumed by many people across the globe. One of the most popular mezcals is tequila, but there are other forms of mezcal whose production has been part of Mexican culture since the 17th century. It was not until the 1940–50s when the mezcal worm, also known as the “tequila worm”, was placed inside bottles of non-tequila mezcal before distribution. These bottled larvae increased public attention for mezcal, especially in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Despite these larvae gaining global interest, their identity has largely remained uncertain other than that they are larvae of one of three distantly related holometabolous insects. We sequenced the COI gene from larvae in different kinds of commercially available mezcals. All larval DNA that amplified was identified as the agave redworm moth, Comadia redtenbacheri. Those that did not amplify were also confirmed morphologically to be the larva of this species

Trajectoires évolutives et réponses aux changements environnementaux d'une communauté de noctuelles foreuses de graminées (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Sesamiina)

National audienc