Co‐occurrence and phylogenetic distance in communities of mammalian ectoparasites: limiting similarity versus environmental filtering

Similarity between species plays a key role in the processes governing community assembly. The co‐occurrence of highly similar species may be unlikely if their similar needs lead to intense competition (limiting similarity). On the other hand, persistence in a particular habitat may require certain traits, such that communities end up consisting of species sharing the same traits (environmental filtering). Relatively little information exists on the relative importance of these processes in structuring parasite communities. Assuming that phylogenetic relatedness reflects ecological similarity, we tested whether the co‐occurrence of pairs of flea species (Siphonaptera) on the same host individuals was explained by the phylogenetic distance between them, among 40 different samples of mammalian hosts (rodents and shrews) from different species, areas or seasons. Our results indicate that frequency of co‐occurrence between flea species increased with decreasing phylogenetic distance between them in 37 out of 40 community samples, with 14 of these correlations being statistically significant. A meta‐analysis across all samples confirmed the overall trend for closely related species to co‐occur more frequently on the same individual hosts than expected by chance, independently of the identity of the host species or of environmental conditions. These findings suggest that competition between closely related, and therefore presumably ecologically similar, species is not important in shaping flea communities. Instead, if only fleas with certain behavioural, ecological and physiological properties can encounter and exploit a given host, and if phylogenetic relationships determine trait similarity among flea species, then a process akin to environmental filtering, or host filtering, could favour the co‐occurrence of related species on the same host.     

A phylogenetic perspective on species diversity, β‐diversity and biogeography for the microbial world

There is an increasing interest to combine phylogenetic data with distributional and ecological records to assess how natural communities arrange under an evolutionary perspective. In the microbial world, there is also a need to go beyond the problematic species definition to deeply explore ecological patterns using genetic data. We explored links between evolution/phylogeny and community ecology using bacterial 16S rRNA gene information from a high‐altitude lakes district data set. We described phylogenetic community composition, spatial distribution, and β‐diversity and biogeographical patterns applying evolutionary relatedness without relying on any particular operational taxonomic unit definition. High‐altitude lakes districts usually contain a large mosaic of highly diverse small water bodies and conform a fine biogeographical model of spatially close but environmentally heterogeneous ecosystems. We sampled 18 lakes in the Pyrenees with a selection criteria focused on capturing the maximum environmental variation within the smallest geographical area. The results showed highly diverse communities nonrandomly distributed with phylogenetic β‐diversity patterns mainly shaped by the environment and not by the spatial distance. Community similarity based on both bacterial taxonomic composition and phylogenetic β‐diversity shared similar patterns and was primarily structured by similar environmental drivers. We observed a positive relationship between lake area and phylogenetic diversity with a slope consistent with highly dispersive planktonic organisms. The phylogenetic approach incorporated patterns of common ancestry into bacterial community analysis and emerged as a very convenient analytical tool for direct inter‐ and intrabiome biodiversity comparisons and sorting out microbial habitats with potential application in conservation studies.     

The phylogenetic structure of plant–pollinator networks increases with habitat size and isolation

Similarity among species in traits related to ecological interactions is frequently associated with common ancestry. Thus, closely related species usually interact with ecologically similar partners, which can be reinforced by diverse co‐evolutionary processes. The effect of habitat fragmentation on the phylogenetic signal in interspecific interactions and correspondence between plant and animal phylogenies is, however, unknown. Here, we address to what extent phylogenetic signal and co‐phylogenetic congruence of plant–animal interactions depend on habitat size and isolation by analysing the phylogenetic structure of 12 pollination webs from isolated Pampean hills. Phylogenetic signal in interspecific interactions differed among webs, being stronger for flower‐visiting insects than plants. Phylogenetic signal and overall co‐phylogenetic congruence increased independently with hill size and isolation. We propose that habitat fragmentation would erode the phylogenetic structure of interaction webs. A decrease in phylogenetic signal and co‐phylogenetic correspondence in plant–pollinator interactions could be associated with less reliable mutualism and erratic co‐evolutionary change.     

Phylogeny and co‐occurrence of mammal species on Southeast Asian islands

Aim Islands have often been used as model systems in community ecology. The incorporation of information on phylogenetic relatedness of species in studies of island assemblage structure is still uncommon, but could provide valuable insights into the processes of island community assembly. We propose six models of island community assembly that make different predictions about the associations between co‐occurrences of species pairs on islands, phylogenetic relatedness and ecological similarity. We then test these models using data on mammals of Southeast Asian islands. Location Two hundred and forty islands of the Sundaland region of Southeast Asia. Methods We quantified the co‐occurrence of species pairs on islands, and identified pairs that co‐occur more frequently (positive co‐occurrence) or less frequently (negative co‐occurrence) than expected under null models. We then examined the distributions of these significantly deviating pairs with respect to phylogenetic relatedness and ecological differentiation, and compared these patterns with those predicted by the six community assembly models. We used permutation regression to test whether co‐occurrence patterns are predicted by relatedness, body size difference or difference in diet quality. Separate co‐occurrence matrices were analysed in this way for seven mammal families and four smaller subsets of the islands of Sundaland. Results In many matrices, average numbers of negative co‐occurrences were higher than expected under null models. This is consistent with assemblage structuring by competition, but may also result from low geographic overlap of species pairs, which contributes to negative co‐occurrences at the archipelago‐wide level. Distributions of species pairs within plots of phylogenetic distance × ecological differentiation were consistent with competition, habitat filtering or within‐island speciation models, depending on the taxon. Regressions indicated that co‐occurrence was more likely among closely related species pairs within the Viverridae and Sciuridae, but in most matrices phylogenetic distance was unrelated to co‐occurrence. Main conclusions Simple deterministic models linking co‐occurrence with phylogeny and ecology are a useful framework for interpreting distributions and assemblage structure of island species. However, island assemblages in Sundaland have probably been shaped by a complex idiosyncratic set of interacting ecological and evolutionary processes, limiting the predictive power of such models.     

Response to interspecific vocalizations is affected by degree of phylogenetic relatedness in Streptopelia doves

Owing to common descent, related species often show similarity in a number of traits, including those involved in communication. As a result signal similarity and phylogenetic distance are usually inversly related. However, similarity in signal structure need not correspond with similarity in response to such signals. We tested the hypothesis that individuals are more responsive to signals from closely related species than from distantly related ones. We conducted playback experiments on two turtle dove species (African collared-dove, Streptopelia roseogrisea, and vinaceous dove, Streptopelia vinacea) using conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations. Vocalizations were played from species that differed in degree of relatedness and in relative geographical distribution. This enabled us to separate the effects of phylogeny and those of sympatry. There was an effect of phylogenetic distance, with a decrease in response to playback stimuli as phylogenetic distance increased. The results also suggest a minor effect of sympatry, with the response to sympatric species being lower. Copyright 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

Habitat filtering influences the phylogenetic structure of avian communities across a coastal gradient in southern Brazil

The evolution of a particular trait or combination of traits within lineages may affect subsequent evolutionary outcomes, leading closely related species to exhibit higher phenotypic similarity than expected under a simple Brownian‐motion evolutionary model. Niche theory postulates that phenotypes determine species distribution across environmental gradients, leading to a phylogenetic signature in the community assembly. Thus, the incorporation of species phylogeny in the analysis of community ecology structure allows one to link broader environmental, spatial and temporal factors to local, small‐scale ecological processes, thus enabling understanding of community assembly patterns in a broader context. We used the net relatedness index to assess phylogenetic structure within avian communities across a harshness gradient in coastal habitats in southern Brazil. We also evaluated phylogenetic beta diversity, to test whether closely related species exploit habitats with similar environmental conditions. In order to do so, we scaled up phylogenetic information from the species to site level using phylogenetic fuzzy weighting. We found a pattern of phylogenetic clustering in less‐vegetated habitats, namely sandy beach and dunes, which are subject to harsher conditions because of proximity to the ocean. Basal lineages were associated with the more structurally homogeneous sandy beach, while late‐divergence clades occurred in more complex habitats, which were positively related to vegetation cover and height. The observed pattern of phylogenetic clustering suggested the importance of harsh conditions in constraining the distribution of avian lineages. Furthermore, contrasting environmental features between habitats influenced phylogenetic variation, demonstrating the prevalence of phylogenetic habitat filtering. From an applied point of view, such as planning and management of biological reserves, we showed that the full array of habitat patches embedded within coastal ecological gradients must be included in order to preserve distinct evolutionary lineages.     

Phylogenomic analysis suggests Coreidae and Alydidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) are not monophyletic

Next‐generation sequencing technologies (NGS) allow systematists to amass a wealth of genomic data from non‐model species for phylogenetic resolution at various temporal scales. However, phylogenetic inference for many lineages dominated by non‐model species has not yet benefited from NGS, which can complement Sanger sequencing studies. One such lineage, whose phylogenetic relationships remain uncertain, is the diverse, agriculturally important and charismatic Coreoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Given the lack of consensus on higher‐level relationships and the importance of a robust phylogeny for evolutionary hypothesis testing, we use a large data set comprised of hundreds of ultraconserved element (UCE) loci to infer the phylogeny of Coreoidea (excluding Stenocephalidae and Hyocephalidae), with emphasis on the families Coreidae and Alydidae. We generated three data sets by including alignments that contained loci sampled for at least 50%, 60%, or 70% of the total taxa, and inferred phylogeny using maximum likelihood and summary coalescent methods. Twenty‐six external morphological features used in relatively comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of coreoids were also re‐evaluated within our molecular phylogenetic framework. We recovered 439–970 loci per species (16%–36% of loci targeted) and combined this with previously generated UCE data for 12 taxa. All data sets, regardless of analytical approach, yielded topologically similar and strongly supported trees, with the exception of outgroup relationships and the position of Hydarinae. We recovered a monophyletic Coreoidea, with Rhopalidae highly supported as the sister group to Alydidae + Coreidae. Neither Alydidae nor Coreidae were monophyletic; the coreid subfamilies Hydarinae and Pseudophloeinae were recovered as more closely related to Alydidae than to other coreid subfamilies. Coreinae were paraphyletic with respect to Meropachyinae. Most morphological traits were homoplastic with several clades defined by few, if any, synapomorphies. Our results demonstrate the utility of phylogenomic approaches in generating robust hypotheses for taxa with long‐standing phylogenetic problems and highlight that novel insights may come from such approaches.     

Integrating phylogenetic and ecological distances reveals new insights into parasite host specificity

The range of hosts a pathogen infects (host specificity) is a key element of disease risk that may be influenced by both shared phylogenetic history and shared ecological attributes of prospective hosts. Phylospecificity indices quantify host specificity in terms of host relatedness, but can fail to capture ecological attributes that increase susceptibility. For instance, similarity in habitat niche may expose phylogenetically unrelated host species to similar pathogen assemblages. Using a recently proposed method that integrates multiple distances, we assess the relative contributions of host phylogenetic and functional distances to pathogen host specificity (functional–phylogenetic host specificity). We apply this index to a data set of avian malaria parasite (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus spp.) infections from Melanesian birds to show that multihost parasites generally use hosts that are closely related, not hosts with similar habitat niches. We also show that host community phylogenetic ß‐diversity (Pßd) predicts parasite Pßd and that individual host species carry phylogenetically clustered Haemoproteus parasite assemblages. Our findings were robust to phylogenetic uncertainty, and suggest that phylogenetic ancestry of both hosts and parasites plays important roles in driving avian malaria host specificity and community assembly. However, restricting host specificity analyses to either recent or historical timescales identified notable exceptions, including a ‘habitat specialist’ parasite that infects a diversity of unrelated host species with similar habitat niches. This work highlights that integrating ecological and phylogenetic distances provides a powerful approach to better understand drivers of pathogen host specificity and community assembly.     

Molecular phylogeny of Myomys/Stenocephalemys complex and its relationships with related African genera

Partial 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene sequences were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships among Stenocephalemys albocaudata, S. griseicauda and Myomys albipes, three closely related Ethiopian endemic murines and a selection of related species (Myomys daltoni, Praomys delectorum, Mastomys natalensis, Hylomyscus kaimosae, and Colomys goslingi) from other African regions. The obtained phylogeny confirms the close relationship between M. albipes and the two Stenocephalemys species, but it also suggests that both the genera Myomys and Stenocephalemys are paraphyletic, as M. albipes is closer to Stenocephalemys than to M. daltoni and S. griseicauda is more closely related to M. albipes than to S. albocaudata. These data, if confirmed, would argue that M. albipes should be renamed S. albipes. In conclusion, our study suggests that morphological similarity is not always a reliable measure for close genetic relationship in murines. Morphological similarity among species that evolved under similar ecological conditions can be the result of convergent evolution rather than a consequence of recent common ancestry.     

Molecular phylogeny of the family Tephritidae (Insecta: Diptera): New insight from combined analysis of the mitochondrial 12S, 16S,and COII genes

The phylogeny of the family Tephritidae (Diptera: Tephritidae) was reconstructed from mitochondrial 12S, 16S, and COII gene fragments using 87 species, including 79 tephritid and 8 outgroup species. Minimum evolution and Bayesian trees suggested the following phylogenetic relationships: (1) A sister group relationship between Ortalotrypeta and Tachinisca, and their basal phylogenetic position within Tephritidae; (2) a sister group relationship between the tribe Acanthonevrini and Phytalmiini; (3) monophyly of Plioreocepta, Taomyia and an undescribed new genus, and their sister group relationship with the subfamily Tephritinae; (4) a possible sister group relationship of Cephalophysa and Adramini; and (5) reconfirmation of monophyly for Trypetini, Carpomyini, Tephritinae, and Dacinae. The combination of 12S, 16S, and COII data enabled resolution of phylogenetic relationships among the higher taxa of Tephritidae.     

Scale‐dependence of phylogenetic signal in ecological traits of ectoparasites

The non‐independence of traits among closely related species is a well‐documented phenomenon underpinning modern methods for comparative analyses or prediction of trait values in new species. Surprisingly such studies have mainly focused on life‐history or morphological traits of free‐living organisms, ignoring ecological attributes of parasite species in spite of the fact that they are critical for conservation and human health. We tested for a phylogenetic signal acting on two ecological traits, abundance and host specificity, using data for 218 flea species parasitic on small mammals in 19 regions of the Palaearctic and Nearctic, and a phylogenetic tree for these species. We tested for the presence of a phylogenetic signal at both regional and continental scales using three measures (Abouheif/Moran's I, Pagel's λ, and Blomberg et al.'s K). Our results show 1) a consistent positive phylogenetic signal for flea abundance, but only a weaker and erratic signal for host specificity, and 2) a clear dependence on scale, with the signals being stronger at the continental scale and relatively weaker or inconsistent at the regional scale. Whenever values of Blomberg et al.'s K were found significant, they were <1 suggesting that the effects of phylogeny on the evolution of abundance and host specificity in fleas are weaker than expected from a Brownian motion model. The most striking finding is that, within a continental fauna, closely‐related flea species are characterized by similar levels of abundance, though this pattern is weaker within local assemblages, possibly eroded by local biotic or abiotic conditions. We discuss the link between history (represented by phylogeny) and pattern of variation among species in morphological and ecological traits, and use comparisons between the Palaearctic and Nearctic to infer a role of historical events in the probability of detecting phylogenetic signals.     

Molecular phylogenetics of the butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae): taxonomy and biogeography of a global coral reef fish family

Marine butterflyfishes (10 genera, 114 species) are conspicuously beautiful and abundant animals found on coral reefs worldwide, and are well studied due to their ecological importance and commercial value. Several phylogenies based on morphological and molecular data exist, yet a well-supported molecular phylogeny at the species level for a wide range of taxa remains to be resolved. Here we present a molecular phylogeny of the butterflyfishes, including representatives of all genera (except Parachaetodon) and at least one representative of all commonly cited subgenera of Chaetodon (except Roa sensuBlum, 1988). Genetic data were collected for 71 ingroup and 13 outgroup taxa, using two nuclear and three mitochondrial genes that total 3332 nucleotides. Bayesian inference, parsimony, and maximum likelihood methods produced a well-supported phylogeny with strong support for a monophyletic Chaetodontidae. The Chaetodon subgenera Exornator and Chaetodon were found to be polyphyletic, and the genus Amphichaetodon was not the basal sister group to the rest of the family as had been previously proposed. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of data from 5 genes resolved some clades in agreement with previous phylogenetic studies, however the topology of relationships among major butterflyfish groups differed significantly from previous hypotheses. The analysis recovered a clade containing Amphichaetodon, Coradion, Chelmonops, Chelmon, Forcipiger, Hemitaurichthys, Johnrandallia, and Heniochus. Prognathodes was resolved as the sister to all Chaetodon, as in previous hypotheses, although the topology of subgeneric clades differed significantly from hypotheses based on morphology. We use the species-level phylogeny for the butterflyfishes to resolve long-standing questions regarding the use of subgenera in Chaetodon, to reconstruct molecular rates and estimated dates of diversification of major butterflyfish clades, and to examine global biogeographic patterns.     

Influence of the geography of speciation on current patterns of coral reef fish biodiversity across the Indo‐Pacific

The role of speciation processes in shaping current biodiversity patterns represents a major scientific question for ecologists and biogeographers. Hence, numerous methods have been developed to determine the geography of speciation based on co‐occurrence between sister‐species. Most of these methods rely on the correlation between divergence time and several metrics based on the geographic ranges of sister‐taxa (i.e. overlap, asymmetry). The relationship between divergence time and these metrics has scarcely been examined in a spatial context beyond regression curves. Mapping this relationship across spatial grids, however, may unravel how speciation processes have shaped current biodiversity patterns through space and time. This can be particularly relevant for coral reef fishes of the Indo‐Pacific since the origin of the exceptional concentration of biodiversity in the Indo‐Australian Archipelago (IAA) has been actively debated, with several alternative hypotheses involving species diversification and dispersal. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships between three species‐rich families of coral reef fish (Chaetodontidae, Labridae, Pomacentridae) and calculated co‐occurrence metrics between closely related lineages of those families. We demonstrated that repeated biogeographic processes can be identified in present‐day species distribution by projecting co‐occurrence metrics between related lineages in a geographical context. Our study also evidence that sister‐species do not co‐occur randomly across the Indo‐Pacific, but tend to overlap their range within the IAA. We identified the imprint of two important biogeographic processes that caused this pattern in 48% of the sister‐taxa considered: speciation events within the IAA and repeated divergence between the Indian and Pacific Ocean, with subsequent secondary contact in the IAA.     

Low levels of climate niche conservatism may explain clade diversity patterns in the South African genus Pelargonium (Geraniaceae)

? Premise of the study: Sharp climatic gradients in South Africa and in particular in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) provide a diversity of niches over short distances that may have promoted ecological diversification in local clades. Here we measured the extent to which closely related species occupy divergent climates and test whether niche lability is correlated with higher species diversity in the genus. ? Method: We integrated phylogenetic information and environmental niche models (ENM) to assess the levels of climate niche conservatism. ENMs for 113 species of Pelargonium were calculated using maximum entropy. We used two tests, one assessing climate niche equivalency and the other testing niche similarity between sister species and within sections. We also examined whether niche similarity was correlated with phylogenetic relatedness across the genus. ? Key results: Niche similarity was mostly independent of phylogenetic relationships. Compared to random expectations, 23% of closely related species pairs had climate niches that were more similar, and only 6.5% were more disparate; the remaining 70% of comparisons had similarities that fell within random expectations. Similar trends were observed when analyses were restricted to only sister species pairs. Although the overall proportion of niche divergence was low, this was significantly related to sectional diversity. We also found a negative relationship between diversity and the proportion of random niches. ? Conclusions: Lack of widespread niche conservatism in a highly heterogeneous landscape and few instances of significant climate niche lability suggest that an adaptive divergence process was implicated in the Pelargonium radiation.     

The mushroom habitat as an ecological arena for global exchange of Wolbachia

Wolbachia infect a variety of arthropod and nematode hosts, but in arthropods, host phylogenetic relationships are usually poor predictors of strain similarity. This suggests that new infections are often established by horizontal transmission. To gain insight into the factors affecting the probability of horizontal transmission among host species, we ask how host phylogeny, geographical distribution and ecology affect patterns of Wolbachia strain similarity. We used multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to characterize Wolbachia strain similarity among dipteran hosts associated with fleshy mushrooms. Wolbachia Supergroup A was more common than Supergroup B in Diptera, and also more common in mycophagous than non‐mycophagous Diptera. Within Supergroup A, host family within Diptera had no effect on strain similarity, and there was no tendency for Wolbachia strains from sympatric host species to be more similar to one another than to strains from hosts in different biogeographical realms. Supergroup A strains differed between mycophagous and non‐mycophagous Diptera more than expected by chance, suggesting that ecological associations can facilitate horizontal transmission of Wolbachia within mycophagous fly communities. For Supergroup B, there were no significant associations between strain similarity and host phylogeny, biogeography, or ecology. We identified only two cases in which closely related hosts carried closely related Wolbachia strains, evidence that Wolbachia‐host co‐speciation or early introgression can occur but may not be a major contributor to overall strain diversity. Our results suggest that horizontal transmission of Wolbachia can be influenced by host ecology, thus leading to partial restriction of Wolbachia strains or strain groups to particular guilds of insects.     

Manifold influences of phylogenetic structure on a plant–herbivore network

Ecologists are increasingly aware of the interplay between evolutionary history and ecological processes in shaping current species interaction patterns. The inclusion of phylogenetic relationships in studies of species interaction networks has shown that closely related species commonly interact with sets of similar species. Notably, the degree of phylogenetic conservatism in antagonistic ecological interactions is frequently stronger among species at lower trophic levels than among those at higher trophic levels. One hypothesis that accounts for this asymmetry is that competition among consumer species promotes resource partitioning and offsets the maintenance of dietary similarity by phylogenetic inertia. Here, we used a regional plant–herbivore network comprised of Asteraceae species and flower‐head endophagous insects to evaluate how the strength of phylogenetic conservatism in species interactions differs between the two trophic levels. We also addressed whether the asymmetry in the strength of the phylogenetic signal between plants and animals depends on the overall degree of relatedness among the herbivores. We show that, beyond the previously reported compositional similarity, closely related species also share a greater proportion of counterpart phylogenetic history, both for resource and consumer species. Comparison of the patterns found in the entire network with those found in subnetworks composed of more phylogenetically restricted groups of herbivores provides evidence that resource partitioning occurs mostly at deeper phylogenetic levels, so that a positive phylogenetic signal in antagonist similarity is detectable even between closely related consumers in monophyletic subnetworks. The asymmetry in signal strength between trophic levels is most apparent in the way network modules reflect resource phylogeny, both for the entire network and for subnetworks. Taken together, these results suggest that evolutionary processes, such as phylogenetic conservatism and independent colonization history of the insect groups may be the main forces generating the phylogenetic structure observed in this particular plant–herbivore network system.     

Phylogenetic relationships of the carabid subfamily Harpalinae (Coleoptera) based on molecular sequence data

The carabid subfamily Harpalinae contains most of the species of carabid beetles. This subfamily, with over 19,000 species, radiated in the Cretaceous to yield a large clade that is diverse in morphological form and ecological habit. While there are several morphological, cytological, and chemical characters that unite most harpalines, the placement of some tribes within the subfamily remains controversial, as does the sister group relationships to this large group. In this study, DNA sequences from the 28S rDNA gene and the wingless nuclear protein-coding gene were collected from 52 carabid genera representing 31 harpaline tribes in addition to more than 21 carabid outgroup taxa to reconstruct the phylogeny of this group. Molecular sequence data from these genes, along with additional data from the 18S rDNA gene, were analyzed with a variety of phylogenetic analysis methods, separately for each gene and in a combined data approach. Results indicated that the subfamily Harpalinae is monophyletic with the enigmatic tribes of Morionini, Peleciini, and Pseudomorphini included within it. Brachinine bombardier beetles are closely related to Harpalinae as they form the sister group to harpalines or, in some analyses, are included within it or with austral psydrines. The austral psydrines are the sister group to Harpalinae+Brachinini clade in most analyses and austral psydrines+Brachinini+Harpalinae clade is strongly supported.     

Coevolution between flight morphology,vertical stratification and sexual dimorphism: what can we learn from tropical butterflies?

Occurrence patterns are partly shaped by the affinity of species with habitat conditions. For winged organisms, flight‐related attributes are vital for ecological performance. However, due to the different reproductive roles of each sex, we expect divergence in flight energy budget, and consequently different selection responses between sexes. We used tropical frugivorous butterflies as models to investigate coevolution between flight morphology, sex dimorphism and vertical stratification. We studied 94 species of Amazonian fruit‐feeding butterflies sampled in seven sites across 3341 ha. We used wing–thorax ratio as a proxy for flight capacity and hierarchical Bayesian modelling to estimate stratum preference. We detected a strong phylogenetic signal in wing–thorax ratio in both sexes. Stouter fast‐flying species preferred the canopy, whereas more slender slow‐flying species preferred the understorey. However, this relationship was stronger in females than in males, suggesting that female phenotype associates more intimately with habitat conditions. Within species, males were stouter than females and sexual dimorphism was sharper in understorey species. Because trait–habitat relationships were independent from phylogeny, the matching between flight morphology and stratum preference is more likely to reflect adaptive radiation than shared ancestry. This study sheds light on the impact of flight and sexual dimorphism on the evolution and ecological adaptation of flying organisms.     

An improved phylogeny of the Andean tit-tyrants (Aves, Tyrannidae): more characters trump sophisticated analyses

The phylogeny of the flycatcher genus Anairetes was previously inferred using short fragments of mitochondrial DNA and parsimony and distance-based methods. The resulting topology spurred taxonomic revision and influenced understanding of Andean biogeography. More than a decade later, we revisit the phylogeny of Anairetes tit-tyrants using more mtDNA characters, seven unlinked loci (three mitochondrial genes, six nuclear loci), more closely related outgroup taxa, partitioned Bayesian analyses, and two coalescent species-tree approaches (Bayesian estimation of species trees, BEST; Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees, (*)BEAST). Of these improvements in data and analyses, the fourfold increase in mtDNA characters was both necessary and sufficient to incur a major shift in the topology and near-complete resolution. The species-tree analyses, while theoretically preferable to concatenation or single gene approaches, yielded topologies that were compatible with mtDNA but with weaker statistical resolution at nodes. The previous results that had led to taxonomic and biogeographic reappraisal were refuted, and the current results support the resurrection of the genus Uromyias as the sister clade to Anairetes. The sister relationship between these two genera corresponds to an ecological dichotomy between a depauperate humid cloud forest clade and a diverse dry-tolerant clade that has diversified along the latitudinal axis of the Andes. The species-tree results and the concatenation results each reaffirm the primacy of mtDNA to provide phylogenetic signal for avian phylogenies at the species and subspecies level. This is due in part to the abundance of informative characters in mtDNA, and in part to its lower effective population size that causes it to more faithfully track the species tree.