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ViewAttendees 5

10-Minute Paper

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

SysEB: Evolution and Phylogenetics 3

Harmonizing three different data sources to reveal a new and more stable classification of tiger moths

Wednesday, November 8, 2023
9:36 AM – 9:48 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor 10
In-Person
The Arctiinae (tiger moths) is a cosmopolitan group that is the largest subfamily of Noctuoidea with ~11,000 species, and is somewhat controversially placed as one of the 18 subfamilies of Erebidae based only on genetic data. This new classification consequently lacks definition based on morphological characters, creating a gap in the evolutionary history due to the lack of apomorphies. Therefore, we bridge three different philosophical currents (museomics, phylogenomics, and morphomics) in order to begin decoding the evolutionary history of tiger moths. We sequenced 625 loci from 57 tiger moth specimens using anchored hybrid enrichment target capture. In addition, we added published genome and transcriptome data from 27 additional arctiines, and 58 outgroups representing all other erebid subfamilies and noctuoid families. We performed maximum likelihood and multi-species coalescent analyses, and our resulting phylogenies indicate that the subfamily Arctiinae should be elevated to family status (Arctiidae, stat. rev.) that also includes the subfamilies Pangraptinae, Herminiinae, and Aganainae. Forty-four morphological characters were used to support our reclassification. These results show the necessity to continue working on the entire family Erebidae. Also, this work highlights the importance of the use of museum collections as the source to answer evolutionary questions.