Ordinal level phylogenomics of Odonata based on anchored hybrid enrichment

Odonata comprise approximately 6400 species with extensive diversity, specifically their color variation, flight behavior patterns, and breadth of ecological niches. Additionally, their phylogenetic placement within Insecta as descendents of the first winged insects make them ideal candidates for exploring evolutionary forces that shaped diversity patterns (e.g., diversification rate shifts) as well as character evolution (e.g., flight behavior, color). Even though morphological and ecological traits are well known for most odonate taxa, the lack of a well supported phylogenetic hypothesis across Odonata have limited the capability of evaluating evolutionary phenomena in a comparative context. Previous studies using various taxon sampling schemes and data types (i.e., morphology, targeted locus) to reconstruct odonate relationships failed to resolve several interfamilial relationships, specifically in groups with likely incomplete lineage sorting and/or introgression. Even though a recent study by Bybee et al. (2021) incorporated genomic-scale anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) data for phylogenetic reconstruction, the relatively limited taxon sampling likely precluded resolution within the problematic groups. Our study, also targeting AHE loci, greatly expand taxon sampling to include at least one genus representative for approximately 95% of all odonate genera, which resulted in 729 newly generated samples in addition to 142 samples from Bybee et al. (2021) for a total of 831. With around 500 AHE loci, we aim to resolve historically difficult relationships and construct a robust ordinal phylogeny of Odonata, which will be used as the evolutionary framework to clarify taxonomic classifications and test evolutionary hypotheses regarding shifts in flight behaviors, colors, and diversification rates.