Molecular Phylogeny of Grassland Caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Lymantriinae: Gynaephora) Endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Gynaephora (Lepidoptera Erebidae: Lymantriinae) is a small genus, consisting of 15 nominated species, of which eight species are endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). In this study, we employed both mitochondrial and nuclear loci to infer a molecular phylogeny for the eight QTP Gynaephora spp. We used the phylogeny to estimate divergence dates in a molecular dating analysis and to delimit species. This information allowed us to investigate associations between the diversification history of the eight QTP species and geological and climatic events. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the eight QTP species formed a monophyletic group with strong supports in both Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses. The low K2P genetic distances between the eight QTP species suggested that diversification occurred relatively quickly and recently. Out of the eight species, five species were highly supported as monophyletic, which were also recovered by species delimitation analyses. Samples of the remaining three species (G. aureata, G. rouergensis, and G. minora) mixed together, suggesting that further studies using extensive population sampling and comprehensive morphological approaches are necessary to clarify their species status. Divergence time estimation results demonstrated that the diversification and speciation of Gynaephora on the QTP began during the late Miocene/early Pliocene and was potentially affected by the QTP uplift and associated climate changes during this time.

TheKobresia pygmaeaecosystem of the Tibetan highlands – origin, functioning and degradation of the world’s largest pastoral alpine ecosystem

“…Schmidt [personal communication]). Important insects of the Kobresia pastures are Lepidoptera caterpillars of the genus Gynaephora (Erebidae, Lymantriinae; e.g., Yuan et al 2015) which are known to cause severe damage (http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/counprof/china/china2.htm, Yan et al 1995, Xi et al 2013, Zhang and Yuan 2013, Yuan et al 2015 Table 1). Most probably the world's most elevated highlands were even more hostile for life during the cold periods of the Quaternary than today.…”

Selection of reference genes for qRT‐PCR and expression analysis of high‐altitude‐related genes in grassland caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Gynaephora) along an altitude gradient

“…Gynaephora first colonized the TP around 17.7 million years ago, when Tibet was located at an altitude 3,000 m above sea level (masl). A burst of speciation has been dated to 4.5–1.1 million years ago, which broadly corresponding with the rapid uplift of the TP (Yuan et al., 2015). Changes in altitude and related environmental factors were likely a driving force for the diversification of the Gynaephora .…”

Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Reared Parasitoid Wasps of the Genus Glyptapanteles Ashmead 1904 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) Associated with Lepidoptera in India

“…Therefore, best-fit partitioning schemes and nucleotide substitution models were chosen. In the ML analysis, the general time reversible (GTR) with gamma distribution (G) substitution model was predicted with subset partitions positions 1, 2, and 3 (scheme lnL: 5651.56731 and AIC: 11715.13462) using PartitionFinder version 1.1.1 [ 22 ], which was previously used for dataset of grassland caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Lymantriinae: Gynaephora) [ 26 ]. In case of Bayesian analysis, optimal partitioning strategy was estimated, which returned three data partitions with two models and two rates.…”

“…previously [ 25 ] and Gynaephora spp. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Lymantriinae) [ 26 ] to understand relationships across the species and related genera. In order to get more reliability of relationship among the species with two different algorithmic methods, we decided to generate trees using ML and BI methods.…”