Phylogeny of North American fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Implications for the evolution of light signals

Stanger‐Hall, Kathrin F.; Lloyd, James E.; Hillis, David M.

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.013

Cited by 93 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Jeng's phylogenetic estimate corroborated McDermott's sub-familial classification with the exception of the Ototretadrilinae-Ototretinae complex. Not all phylogenetic analyses have reached this conclusion (Branham and Wenzel 2003;Stanger-Hall et al 2007). In so much as our taxa overlap, our results agree in large part with Jeng (2008), as only the subfamilies Ototretinae (defined as the traditional Ototretinae and the pan ototretinae) and Lampyrinae were recovered as non-monophyletic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review of the firefly visual system (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and evolution of the opsin genes underlying color vision

et al. 2015

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Among insects, opsin copy number variation has been shown to be quite diverse. However, within the beetles, very little work on opsins has been conducted. Here, we look at the visual system of fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), which offer an elegant system in which to study visual evolution as it relates to their behavior and broader ecology. They are the best-known case of a terrestrial organism that communicates through the use bioluminescence. The molecular basis for this communication is relatively simple: one gene family (opsins) controls the detection of the signal, and one gene family (luciferase) controls the production of the signal. We use a transcriptomic approach to sample for and investigate opsin evolution in fireflies. We also use a phylogenetic estimate of Lampyridae to examine the evolution and ancestral modality of adult courtship communication. We find evidence for only two expressed opsin classes in each of the nine firefly species studied, one in the ultraviolet-sensitive and one in the long-wavelength-sensitive areas of the visible spectrum. Bioluminescent communication in adults is not optimized to be present ancestrally, and was gained two times with six subsequent losses. Despite the need for most adult fireflies to respond to a clearly sexual and colorful visual signal (bioluminescence) to maximize fitness, their visual system is relatively simple, and does not match the trend for opsin duplication found in other insect groups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Summary of the classification systems of adult lampyrid bioluminescencefrom Lloyd 1971;Ohba 1983;Branham andWenzel 2003, andStanger-Hall et al 2007 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the firefly visual system (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and evolution of the opsin genes underlying color vision

et al. 2015

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“…Anatomical allomone structures Bees, [486,491] wasps, [486] ants, [486] honeybees, [497] true bugs [473,499,607] Defense spines Lepidopteran caterpillars, [485] pine processionary caterpillars, [485,490] moths [486] Built structures Caterpillars, [608][609][610][611] moth caterpillars, [612] beetles [613][614][615] Projectile dispersal Bombardier beetles [467] Color vision and color manipulation 1D photonic structures Beetles, [289,291] butterflies [289,291] Apposition eyes Ants, [361] dragonflies [361] Bioluminescence Fireflies [616] Color vision Honeybees, [617,618] common bluebottle butterflies [619] Disorder-based color Butterflies, [320,323,324] jeweled beetles, [329][330][331] white beetles [332,333] Photonic crystals Weevils, [290,316,319,321] butterflies [290,316,…”

Section: Physical Adhesive Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature: Functional Materials in Insects

2018

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Over the course of their wildly successful proliferation across the earth, the insects as a taxon have evolved enviable adaptations to their diverse habitats, which include adhesives, locomotor systems, hydrophobic surfaces, and sensors and actuators that transduce mechanical, acoustic, optical, thermal, and chemical signals. Insect‐inspired designs currently appear in a range of contexts, including antireflective coatings, optical displays, and computing algorithms. However, as over one million distinct and highly specialized species of insects have colonized nearly all habitable regions on the planet, they still provide a largely untapped pool of unique problem‐solving strategies. With the intent of providing materials scientists and engineers with a muse for the next generation of bioinspired materials, here, a selection of some of the most spectacular adaptations that insects have evolved is assembled and organized by function. The insects presented display dazzling optical properties as a result of natural photonic crystals, precise hierarchical patterns that span length scales from nanometers to millimeters, and formidable defense mechanisms that deploy an arsenal of chemical weaponry. Successful mimicry of these adaptations may facilitate technological solutions to as wide a range of problems as they solve in the insects that originated them.

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“…The monophyly of the Lampyridae was supported by recent molecular phylogenetic analyses on the basis of nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA gene sequences (Sagegami-Oba et al, 2007;Bocakova et al, 2007). By contrast, the monophyly was not supported by phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences, where a phengodid genus Rhagophthalmus was placed within the lampyrid clade (Suzuki, 1997;Li et al, 2006;Stanger-Hall et al, 2007). The Lampyridae contains eight subfamilies, ~100 genera and ~2,000 species worldwide (Crowson, 1972;Lawrence and Newton, 1995;Lawrence, 1982), of which four subfamilies, nine genera and 50 species have been reported from Japan (Kawashima et al, 2003(Kawashima et al, , 2005Ohba, 2004aOhba, , 2009 Table 1).…”

Section: Fireflies (Lampyridae)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on luminescence characters (flash, glow or non-luminescent) and pheromone usage, Ohba (1983Ohba ( , 2004a classified the sexual communication behaviors of Japanese fireflies into six types. On the basis of morphological and molecular data, the evolution of communication systems in the Lampyridae has been inferred and discussed by several authors (Branham and Wenzel, 2003;Suzuki, 1997;Stanger-Hall et al, 2007). These studies consistently suggest that the loss of adult luminescence has occurred multiple times during the evolution of the Lampyridae.…”

Section: Fireflies (Lampyridae)mentioning

confidence: 99%