Evolutionary timescale of chalcidoid wasps inferred from over one hundred mitochondrial genomes
Jiachen Zhu, 浙江大学昆虫科学研究所水稻生物学国家重点实验室, 农业农村部作物病虫分子生物学重点实验室, 浙江省作物病虫生物学重点实验室, 浙江 杭州 310058, 中国, Hui Xiao, Pu Tang, Xiaofei Li, Xuan-Kun Li, Chao‐Dong Zhu, Qiong Wu, Jinhua Xiao, C. van Achterberg, Da‐Wei Huang, Xue‐Xin Chen, 中国科学院动物研究所动物进化与系统学(院)重点实验室, 北京 100101, 中国, 佛罗里达大学佛罗里达自然历史博物馆, 盖恩斯维尔 32611, 美国, 南开大学生命科学学院, 天津 300071, 中国
Abstract
Chalcidoidea is one of the most biologically diverse groups among Hymenoptera. Members are characterized by extraordinary parasitic lifestyles and extensive host ranges, among which several species attack plants or serve as pollinators. However, higher-level chalcidoid relationships remain controversial. Here, we performed mitochondrial phylogenomic analyses for major clades (18 out of 25 families) of Chalcidoidea based on 139 mitochondrial genomes. The compositional heterogeneity and conflicting backbone relationships in Chalcidoidea were assessed using various datasets and tree inferences. Our phylogenetic results supported the monophyly of 16 families and polyphyly of Aphelinidae and Pteromalidae. Our preferred topology recovered the relationship (Mymaridae+(Signiphoridae+Leucospidae)+(Chalcididae+((Perilampidae+Eucharitidae)+ remaining Chalcidoidea)))). The monophyly of Agaonidae and Sycophaginae was rejected, while the gall-associated ((Megastigmidae+Ormyridae)+(Ormocerinae+Eurytomidae)) relationship was supported in most results. A six-gene inversion may be a synapomorphy for most families, whereas other derived gene orders may introduce confusion in phylogenetic signals at deeper nodes. Dating estimates suggested that Chalcidoidea arose near the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary and that two dynamic shifts in diversification occurred during the evolution of Chalcidoidea. We hypothesized that the potential codiversification between chalcidoids and their hosts may be crucial for accelerating the diversification of Chalcidoidea. Ancestral state reconstruction analyses supported the hypothesis that gall-inducers were mainly derived from parasitoids of gall-inducers, while other gall-inducers were derived from phytophagous groups. Taken together, these findings advance our understanding of mitochondrial genome evolution in the major interfamilial phylogeny of Chalcidoidea.