Phylogeny of <i>Rhynchium</i> and Its Related Genera (Hymenoptera: Eumeninae) Based on Universal Single-Copy Orthologs and Ultraconserved Elements

oleh: Min Dai, Shu-Lin He, Bin Chen, Ting-Jing Li

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-09-01

Deskripsi

The subfamily Eumeninae is a large group of fierce predatory insects that prey mainly on the larvae of Lepidoptera pests. Because of the highly similar morphologies of the genus <i>Rhynchium</i> and its related genera in the subfamily, including <i>Rhynchium</i> Spinola, <i>Allorhynchium</i> van der Vecht, <i>Anterhynchium</i> de Saussure, <i>Pararrhynchium</i> de Saussure, it is essential to delineate their relationships. A previous phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial genomes suggested the inconsistent relationships of these genera under traditional classification based on morphological characters. In this study, we first used single-copy orthologs [USCO] and ultraconserved elements [UCE] extracted from 10 newly sequenced low-coverage whole genomes to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of the above genera. The newly sequenced genomes are 152.99 Mb to 211.49 Mb in size with high completeness (BUSCO complete: 91.5–95.6%) and G + C content (36.31–38.76%). Based on extracted 5811 USCOs and 2312 UCEs, the phylogenetic relationships of <i>Rhynchium</i> and its related genera were: ((<i>Allorhynchium</i> + <i>Lissodynerus</i>) + (<i>Pararrhynchium</i> + (<i>Anterhynchium</i> + (<i>Dirhynchium</i> + <i>Rhynchium</i>)))), which was consistent with the mitochondrial genome results. The results supported the genus <i>Rhynchium</i> as monophyletic, whereas <i>Anterhynchium</i> was recovered as paraphyletic, with <i>Anterhynchium</i> (<i>Dirhynchium</i>) as a sister to <i>Rhynchium</i> and hence deserving generic status; In addition, in the genus <i>Pararrhynchium</i>, <i>P. septemfasciatus feanus</i> and <i>P. venkataramani</i> were separated, not clustered on a branch, just as <i>P. septemfasciatus feanus</i> was not together with <i>P. striatum</i> based on mitochondrial genomes. Since <i>Lissodynerus septemfasciatus</i>, the type species of the genus <i>Lissodynerus</i>, was transferred to <i>Pararrhynchium</i>, it is considered that the genus <i>Lissodynerus</i> should be restituted as a valid genus, not a synonym of <i>Pararrhynchium</i>.