Ten genes and two topologies: an exploration of higher relationships in skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae)

Ranjit Kumar Sahoo; Andrew D Warren; Niklas Wahlberg; Andrew V Z Brower; Vladimir A Lukhtanov; Ullasa Kodandaramaiah

doi:10.7717/peerj.2653

Ten genes and two topologies: an exploration of higher relationships in skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae)

PeerJ. 2016 Dec 6:4:e2653. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2653. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Ranjit Kumar Sahoo¹, Andrew D Warren², Niklas Wahlberg³, Andrew V Z Brower⁴, Vladimir A Lukhtanov⁵, Ullasa Kodandaramaiah¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram , Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala , India.
² McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida , UF Cultural Plaza, Gainesville, FL , USA.
³ Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁴ Evolution and Ecology Group, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University , Murfreesboro, TN , USA.
⁵ Department of Insect Systematics, Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia; Department of Entomology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Abstract

Despite multiple attempts to infer the higher-level phylogenetic relationships of skipper butterflies (Family Hesperiidae), uncertainties in the deep clade relationships persist. The most recent phylogenetic analysis included fewer than 30% of known genera and data from three gene markers. Here we reconstruct the higher-level relationships with a rich sampling of ten nuclear and mitochondrial markers (7,726 bp) from 270 genera and find two distinct but equally plausible topologies among subfamilies at the base of the tree. In one set of analyses, the nuclear markers suggest two contrasting topologies, one of which is supported by the mitochondrial dataset. However, another set of analyses suggests mito-nuclear conflict as the reason for topological incongruence. Neither topology is strongly supported, and we conclude that there is insufficient phylogenetic evidence in the molecular dataset to resolve these relationships. Nevertheless, taking morphological characters into consideration, we suggest that one of the topologies is more likely.

Keywords: Contrasting topologies; Hesperiidae; Incongruence; Phylogeny; Skipper butterflies.

Grants and funding

The project was funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST-RFBR-P-155) and INSPIRE Faculty Award to Ullasa Kodandaramaiah, IISER Thiruvananthapuram and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. Vladimir A. Lukhtanov was supported by the grant N 14-14-00541 from the Russian Science Foundation. Ranjit Kumar Sahoo was supported by a research fellowship from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.