The owlet moths (Noctuoidea; ~43–45K described species) are one of the most ecologically diverse and speciose superfamilies of animals. Moreover, they comprise some of the world's most notorious pests of agriculture and forestry. Despite their contributions to terrestrial biodiversity and impacts on ecosystems and economies, the evolutionary history of Noctuoidea remains unclear because the superfamily lacks a statistically robust phylogenetic and temporal framework. We reconstructed the phylogeny of Noctuoidea using data from 1234 genes (946.4 kb nucleotides) obtained from the genome and transcriptome sequences of 76 species. The relationships among the six families of Noctuoidea were well resolved and consistently recovered based on both concatenation and gene coalescence approaches, supporting the following relationships: Oenosandridae + (Notodontidae + (Erebidae + (Nolidae + (Euteliidae + Noctuidae)))). A Yule tree prior with three unlinked molecular clocks was identified as the preferred BEAST analysis using marginal-likelihood estimations. The crown age of Noctuoidea was estimated at 74.5 Ma, with most families originating before the end of the Paleogene (23 Ma). Our study provides the first statistically robust phylogenetic and temporal framework for Noctuoidea, including all families of owlet moths, based on large-scale genomic data.

中文翻译：

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大规模基因组数据揭示了枭蛾（Noctuoidea）的系统发育和进化

枭蛾（Noctuoidea；约 43–45K 描述物种）是生态最多样化、物种最丰富的动物总科之一。此外，它们还包括一些世界上最臭名昭著的农业和林业害虫。尽管夜蛾总科对陆地生物多样性做出了贡献并对生态系统和经济产生了影响，但其进化历史仍不清楚，因为该总科缺乏统计上可靠的系统发育和时间框架。我们利用从 76 个物种的基因组和转录组序列中获得的 1234 个基因（946.4 kb 核苷酸）的数据重建了夜蛾总科的系统发育。基于串联和基因合并方法，夜蛾总科的六个科之间的关系得到了很好的解决和一致恢复，支持以下关系：Oenosandridae + (Notodontidae + (Erebidae + (Nolidae + (Euteliidae + Noctuidae))))。使用边际似然估计，将具有三个未关联分子钟的圣诞树先验确定为首选 BEAST 分析。夜蛾总科的树冠年龄估计为 74.5 Ma，大多数科起源于古近纪末（23 Ma）之前。我们的研究基于大规模基因组数据，为夜蛾总科（包括所有鸮蛾科）提供了第一个统计上稳健的系统发育和时间框架。