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Related Experiment Video

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Field Experiments of Pollination Ecology: The Case of Lycoris sanguinea var. sanguinea

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BUTTERFLIES AND PLANTS: A PHYLOGENETIC STUDY.

Niklas Janz¹, Sören Nylin¹

¹Department of Zoology, University of Stockholm, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution

|June 2, 2017

Summary

Butterflies and their host plants show large-scale conserved associations, primarily driven by host shifts between related plant species. This pattern is more flexible at detailed levels, with plant growth form being highly conservative.

Keywords:

Coevolution Lepidoptera Papilionoidea host shifts insect-host plant interactions specialization

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Ecology
Phylogenetics

Background:

Insect-plant interactions often show conserved patterns, but the evolutionary mechanisms are debated.
Previous research suggests host shifts, not cospeciation, largely shape these associations.
Understanding butterfly-host plant relationships requires phylogenetic analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the evolutionary history of butterfly-host plant interactions.
To test hypotheses regarding host shifts and their role in butterfly diversification.
To determine the relative importance of plant phylogeny and growth form in shaping these interactions.

Main Methods:

Phylogenetic methods including character optimization, concentrated changes test, and independent contrasts test were employed.
A butterfly phylogeny was constructed from various sources.
Host plant clades were identified using a published rbcL-based phylogeny.

Main Results:

The ancestral butterfly host plant is associated with a derived rosid clade, including Fabaceae.
Fossil data indicate butterflies colonized already diversified plants.
Host shifts were more frequent between closely related plant species, explaining large-scale conserved associations.

Conclusions:

Related butterflies generally feed on related plants, with host shifts being a key evolutionary driver.
Plant growth form is a conservative feature, likely due to higher colonization and host shift probabilities on trees.
These findings reconcile large-scale conservation with detailed-level flexibility in insect-plant associations.