BackgroundThe small ermine moth genus Yponomeuta (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae) contains 76 species that are specialist feeders on hosts from Celastraceae, Rosaceae, Salicaceae, and several other plant families. The genus is a model for studies in the evolution of phytophagous insects and their host-plant associations. Here, we reconstruct the phylogeny to provide a solid framework for these studies, and to obtain insight into the history of host-plant use and the biogeography of the genus.Methodology/Principal FindingsDNA sequences from an internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-1) and from the 16S rDNA (16S) and cytochrome oxidase (COII) mitochondrial genes were collected from 20–23 (depending on gene) species and two outgroup taxa to reconstruct the phylogeny of the Palaearctic members of this genus. Sequences were analysed using three different phylogenetic methods (parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian inference).Conclusions/SignificanceRoughly the same patterns are retrieved irrespective of the method used, and they are similar among the three genes. Monophyly is well supported for a clade consisting of the Japanese (but not the Dutch) population of Yponomeuta sedellus and Y. yanagawanus, a Y. kanaiellus–polystictus clade, and a Rosaceae-feeding, western Palaearctic clade (Y. cagnagellus–irrorellus clade). Within these clades, relationships are less well supported, and the patterns between the different gene trees are not so similar. The position of the remaining taxa is also variable among the gene trees and rather weakly supported. The phylogenetic information was used to elucidate patterns of biogeography and resource use. In the Palaearctic, the genus most likely originated in the Far East, feeding on Celastraceae, dispersing to the West concomitant with a shift to Rosaceae and further to Salicaceae. The association of Y. cagnagellus with Euonymus europaeus (Celastraceae), however, is a reversal. The only oligophagous species, Y. padellus, belongs to the derived western Palaearctic clade, evidence that specialisation is reversible.

Abstract. The degree of polyandry in a species is linked to other life history traits such as egg maturation, life span, and male ejaculate size and quality. The study of differences in mating strategies between closely related species can provide a better understanding of the evolution of these strategies and of sperm competition. Mating patterns of two closely related species of small ermine moths (Yponomeuta) were investigated in the laboratory. The average female age at first mating was higher in Y. cagnagellus than in Y. padellus. Both species mated more than once; however, Y. cagnagellus females were more likely to remate in a short time frame. Moreover, Y. cagnagellus had higher life time female mating frequencies than Y. padellus (viz., 3.0 versus 2.0). These differences in mating frequency were confirmed in the field by examining the presence of spermatophores (or their remains) in the bursa as well as sperm in the spermatheca of field-caught females.

Inheritance and genetic linkage of 29 allozyme loci were studied by single-pair crosses of Yponomeuta padellus (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae). All loci segregated as Mendelian genes with codominant alleles except for a null allele at the hbdh locus. The three loci est-2, 6pgdh, and fudh were sex-linked and occurred in that order along the Z chromosome. Autosomal linkage analysis was facilitated by the lack of crossing-over in females characteristic of Lepidoptera, because linkage in female-informative crosses is all-or-none and observation of 'forbidden recombinants' provides conclusive evidence that two loci are not syntenic. Convincing evidence was found for linkage of the autosomal loci me and mpi. This linkage group and aat-1, Ca, hbdh, hk-1, pgi and pgm were assigned to seven separate autosomes. Weaker evidence from male-informative families supported four additional linked pairs. Previous cytological studies have shown that the sex chromosomes in heterogametic females are associated in a trivalent, consisting of a W chromosome translocated to an autosome (Av), paired with the Z chromosome and the homologous autosome A. Any locus located on this autosome and its homologous segment on the A" chromosome should show strict segregation of one allele to Sons and the other to daughters. However, none of the female-informative loci in this study satisfied that criterion. Use of the method of forbidden recombinants and its utility in the study of chromosomal evolution in Yponomeuta are discussed.

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