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ViewAttendees 4

10-Minute Paper

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

SysEB: Evolution and Phylogenetics 3

Phasing in and out of phytophagy: UCE phylogenomics of Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea)

Wednesday, November 8, 2023
10:48 AM – 11:00 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor 10
In-Person
Eurytomidae is associated with a wide variety of plants and can often be found within galls or seeds feeding as an herbivore, parasitoid of phytophagous insects, or both. Because of their diverse biology, some members are important agricultural pests such as Almond Seed Wasp and Citrus Gall Wasp, while others such as Arundo Gall Wasp are used as biocontrol agents. Despite their diversity, eurytomid taxonomy is poorly understood due to their small size and being morphologically conserved. These challenges results in many para- or even polyphyletic genera, greatly hampering our understanding of their biology and evolution, as well as their economic impacts.
With the rapid development and increased availability of tools designed to capture genomic DNA, there has been an increase in the use of such methods to unveil the complex evolutionary relationships of taxonomically challenging groups. Here we present a deep level global UCE phylogeny using over 200 samples, and all four subfamilies were recovered as monophyletic. However, many genera within the large subfamily Eurytominae are para- or polyphyletic. The ancestral state reconstruction of biology revealed that phytophagy has evolved at least six times, across 20 different families of plants.