Laboratory of Genetics, Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
Proc Biol Sci. 2009 Dec 22;276(1677):4295-302. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1303. Epub 2009 Sep 30.
The butterfly family Nymphalidae contains some of the most important non-drosophilid insect model systems for evolutionary and ecological studies, yet the evolutionary history of the group has remained shrouded in mystery. We have inferred a robust phylogenetic hypothesis based on sequences of 10 genes and 235 morphological characters for exemplars of 400 of the 540 valid nymphalid genera representing all major lineages of the family. By dating the branching events, we infer that Nymphalidae originated in the Cretaceous at 90 Ma, but that the ancestors of 10-12 lineages survived the end-Cretaceous catastrophe in the Neotropical and Oriental regions. Patterns of diversification suggest extinction of lineages at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary (65 Ma) and subsequent elevated speciation rates in the Tertiary.
蛱蝶科（Nymphalidae）包含一些最重要的非果蝇昆虫模式系统，用于进化和生态研究，但该群体的进化历史仍然笼罩在神秘之中。我们基于 10 个基因和 235 个形态特征的序列，对代表蛱蝶科所有主要谱系的 540 个有效蛱蝶属中的 400 个属进行了稳健的系统发育假设推断。通过对分支事件进行定年，我们推断出蛱蝶科起源于白垩纪，距今 9000 万年前，但在新热带和东洋地区，有 10-12 个谱系的祖先在白垩纪-第三纪大灭绝中幸存下来。多样化模式表明，在白垩纪/第三纪边界（6500 万年前）有谱系灭绝，随后在第三纪有更高的物种形成率。
