Phylogeny and Evolution of Lepidoptera

Abstract

Until recently, deep-level phylogeny in Lepidoptera, the largest single radiation of plant-feeding insects, was very poorly understood. Over the past two decades, building on a preceding era of morphological cladistic studies, molecular data have yielded robust initial estimates of relationships both within and among the ~43 superfamilies, with unsolved problems now yielding to much larger data sets from high-throughput sequencing. Here we summarize progress on lepidopteran phylogeny since 1975, emphasizing the superfamily level, and discuss some resulting advances in our understanding of lepidopteran evolution. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology Volume 62 is January 07, 2017. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.