Molecular phylogeny,larval case architecture,host–plant associations and classification of European Coleophoridae (Lepidoptera)

Bauer, F., Stübner, A., Neinhuis, C. & Nuss, M. (2012). Molecular phylogeny, larval case architecture, host–plant associations and classification of European Coleophoridae (Lepidoptera). —Zoologica Scripta, 41, 248–265. Several attempts based on adult morphology have aimed at classifying the megadiverse Coleophoridae, either by defining species groups or by splitting the large genus Coleophora into many smaller genera. A previous cladistic analysis focussing on larvae suggests monophyly of some case type groups as well as host–plant associations with a preference for certain plant tissues and growth forms. Here, a first molecular phylogeny for Coleophoridae is presented to test these partly contradicting hypotheses. Bayesian statistics is applied to different partitioning strategies of a COI + wingless data set (1815 bp) for 105 European species, revealing eight monophyletic species groups. A broader defined Coleophora with internal groups is better supported than the division into many genera. Goniodoma Zeller, 1849 syn. rev. and Metriotes Herrich‐Schäffer, 1853 syn. n. are nested within Coleophora Hübner, 1822. Seven species are transferred to Coleophora: C. auroguttella ( Zeller, 1849 ) comb. rev., C. limoniella Stainton, 1884 comb. rev., C. millierella (Ragonot, 1882) comb. n., C. nemesi (C?pu?e, 1970) comb. n., C. sinica (Li & Zheng, 2002) comb. n. (from Goniodoma) as well as C. jaeckhi (Baldizzone, 1985) comb. n. and C. lutarea (Haworth, 1828) comb. n. (from Metriotes). None of the formerly suggested case types is synapomorphic for any of the recovered clades. In contrast, cases built from glossy silk that turns black or dark brown is synapomorphic for the vibicella group. Some clades have radiated on certain plant taxa along with a specialisation in specific tissues, for example, the clade containing the saturatella (leaf miners) and frischella (seed miners) groups is associated with Fabaceae, the albella group (seed miners) with Caryophyllales and the serpylletorum group (leaf miners) with Lamiaceae. Calculating an index of host specificity for all studied species confirms significant differences between seed and leaf feeders on herbaceous plants, but not between leaf feeders on herbaceous and woody plants.