The Hymenopteran Tree of Life: Evidence from Protein-Coding Genes and Objectively Aligned Ribosomal Data

Abstract

Previous molecular analyses of higher hymenopteran relationships have largely been based on subjectively aligned ribosomal sequences (18S and 28S). Here, we reanalyze the 18S and 28S data (unaligned about 4.4 kb) using an objective and a semi-objective alignment approach, based on MAFFT and BAli-Phy, respectively. Furthermore, we present the first analyses of a substantial protein-coding data set (4.6 kb from one mitochondrial and four nuclear genes). Our results indicate that previous studies may have suffered from inflated support values due to subjective alignment of the ribosomal sequences, but apparently not from significant biases. The protein data provide independent confirmation of several earlier results, including the monophyly of non-xyelid hymenopterans, Pamphilioidea + Unicalcarida, Unicalcarida, Vespina, Apocrita, Proctotrupomorpha and core Proctotrupomorpha. The protein data confirm that Aculeata are nested within a paraphyletic Evaniomorpha, but cast doubt on the monophyly of Evanioidea. Combining the available morphological, ribosomal and protein-coding data, we examine the total-evidence signal as well as congruence and conflict among the three data sources. Despite an emerging consensus on many higher-level hymenopteran relationships, several problems remain unresolved or contentious, including rooting of the hymenopteran tree, relationships of the woodwasps, placement of Stephanoidea and Ceraphronoidea, and the sister group of Aculeata.

Does early learning drive ecological divergence during speciation processes in parasitoid wasps?

“…Newly obtained sequences were submitted to GenBank (electronic supplementary material, table S4). For the outgroup N. vitripennis, we also used the nucleotide sequence EU746610.1 (COI) [41] as well as XM_001607631.2 (LOC100123909) and KC213163 (CAD) [42] from NCBI.…”

The Phylogeny and Evolution of Ants

“…Molecular phylogenetic analyses have produced contradictory conclusions about aculeate relationships, with ants being positioned as sister to apoids and scolioid wasps (Scoliidae and Bradynobaenidae) (Pilgrim et al 2008, Debevec et al 2012, sister to scolioid wasps only (Wilson et al 2013), sister to a diverse group of mostly ectoparasitoid wasps in the tiphioid-pompiloid complex (Heraty et al 2011), or sister to the small ectoparasitoid family Rhopalosomatidae (Klopfstein et al 2013). These investigations have been based on a relatively small number (3-7) of gene fragments, with apparently limited power to recover some relationships within the Aculeata.…”

Phylogenetic relationships among the subfamilies of Dryinidae (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea) as reconstructed by molecular sequencing

“…18S and 28S were aligned using MAAFT, using the E-INS-I algorithm as implemented in Geneious. This algorithm was chosen for its accuracy in difficult alignments (Morrison 2009) and its recent use in the Hymenoptera Tree of Life project, which provided sequences for outgroup taxon Chrysis cembricola Krombein, 1958(Klopfstein et al 2013 The concatenated matrix was assembled in SeqMatrix (Vaidya et al 2011), resulting in a final matrix of 6594 characters, with 13 percent missing data.…”