Phylogeny of the Hawkmoth tribe Ambulycini: mitogenomes from museum specimens resolve major relationships

Ambulycini are a cosmopolitan tribe of the moth family Sphingidae, comprised of ten genera, three of which are found in tropical Asia, four in the Neotropics, one in Africa, one in the Middle East and one restricted to the islands of New Caledonia. Recent phylogenetic analyses of the tribe have yielded conflicting results, and some have suggested a close relationship of the monobasic New Caledonian genus Compsulyx Holloway, 1979 to the Neotropical ones, despite being found on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean. Here we investigate relationships within the tribe using full mitochondrial genomes, mainly derived from dry-pinned museum collections material. Mitogenomic data were obtained for 19 species representing nine of the ten Ambulycini genera. Phylogenetic trees are in agreement with a tropical Asian origin for the tribe. Furthermore, results indicate that the Neotropical genus Adhemarius Oiticica Filho, 1939 is paraphyletic and support the notion that Orecta Rothschild & Jordan 1903 and Trogolegnum Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 may need to be synonymized. Finally, in our analysis the Neotropical genera do not collectively form a monophyletic group, due to a clade comprising the New Caledonian genus Compsulyx and the African genus Batocnema Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 being placed as sister to the Neotropical genus Protambulyx Rothschild & Jordan, 1903. This finding implies a complex biogeographic history and suggests the evolution of the tribe involved at least two long-distance dispersal events.

© The Author(s) 2019.
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