Our understanding of how fast mating behaviour evolves in insects is rather poor due to a lack of comparative studies among insect groups for which phylogenetic relationships are known. Here, we present a detailed study of the mating behaviour of 27 species of Sepsidae (Diptera) for which a well‐resolved and supported phylogeny is available. We demonstrate that mating behaviour is extremely diverse in sepsids with each species having its own mating profile. We define 32 behavioural characters and document them with video clips. Based on sister species comparisons, we provide several examples where mating behaviour evolves faster than all sexually dimorphic morphological traits. Mapping the behaviours onto the molecular tree reveals much homoplasy, comparable to that observed for third positions of mitochondrial protein‐encoding genes. A partitioned Bremer support (PBS) analysis reveals conflict between the molecular and behavioural data, but behavioural characters have higher PBS values per parsimony‐informative character than DNA sequence characters.

R. (2010). From 'cryptic species' to integrative taxonomy: an iterative process involving DNA sequences, morphology, and behaviour leads to the resurrection of Sepsis pyrrhosoma (Sepsidae: Diptera). -Zoologica Scripta, 39, 51-61. The increased availability of DNA sequences has led to a surge of 'cryptic species' in the literature. These units are usually proposed based on finding genetically distinct lineages within species that were initially defined based on morphological characters. However, few authors attempt to confirm whether these 'cryptic' units are species and even fewer authors are explicit about which species concept is applied. Here, we use an example from Sepsidae (Diptera) to demonstrate how cryptic species can be validated by an iterative process involving several data sources and an evaluation of the data under different species concepts. A phylogeographic analysis based on 50 specimens for five species of the flavimana group revealed deep mitochondrial splits within Sepsis flavimana which was suggestive of a cryptic species. We resolve the initial conflict between DNA sequences and morphology by adding new morphological data as well as behavioural evidence and tests for reproductive isolation. One cryptic species is confirmed and Sepsis pyrrhosoma, a former synonym of S. flavimana, is here shown to be a valid species under most species concepts. We can thus document that the same data can lead to similar conclusions under conflicting concepts once different kinds of data are integrated.

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Urban greenery is increasingly recognized as an important component of urban ecosystems as it provides a range of ecosystem services for environmental and human wellbeing. However, the extent to which the performance of urban greenery is affected by availability of light in high-density urban environment is poorly understood. We examined the effect of shade on the levels of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in different urban forms, focusing on urban street canyon, vehicular flyovers, sky terraces, at-grade community gardens and rooftop community gardens surrounded by high-rise residential buildings. Within these urban forms, we examined the effects of PAR levels on the growth of shrubs, trees and palms. PAR was assessed though simulation using the building information modeling tool Ecotect, and direct measurements with quantum sensors. PAR was most reduced in sky terraces, with daily PAR restricted to about 15 % of unshaded conditions in Singapore. Daily PAR in rooftop community garden was about 60 % of unshaded conditions, whereas urban street canyon, planting area around and under vehicular flyovers and at-grade community garden had daily PAR of 41 to 52 % of unshaded conditions. Within these shaded environments, almost half of all shrubs and almost all flowering shrubs showed differences in vegetative and reproductive growth at lower PAR levels, respectively. Slenderness of trees was also significantly higher compared to trees grown in more unshaded conditions. The spatial distribution of PAR levels was highly non-uniform, with PAR differing between two and nine-fold within a site, and differed significantly to that of direct sunshine hours. These findings provide insights on how a better understanding of effects of shade on PAR helps to improve urban green space design and plant selection for better plant performance.