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Evolutionary relationships of wing venation and wing size and shape in Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

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Abstract

We explored evolutionary changes in wing venation and wing size and shape in Aphidiinae, one of the well-known groups of parasitic wasps from the family Braconidae. Forewings of 53 species from 12 genera were examined, for which a molecular phylogeny was constructed on the basis of the mitochondrial barcoding gene COI. By covering all types of wing venation within the subfamily Aphidiinae and by using landmark-based geometric morphometrics and phylogenetic comparative methods, we tested whether evolutionary changes in wing shape correlate to the changes in wing venation and if both changes relate to wing size. The relationship between wing morphology and host specificity has been also investigated. We found that six types of wing venation, with different degree of vein reduction, could be recognized. Wing venation type is largely genus specific, except in the case of maximal reduction of wing venation which could be found across examined Aphidiinae taxa. The reconstruction of evolutionary changes in wing venation indicates that evolutionary changes in wing shape are related to the changes in wing size, indicating that miniaturization play a role in evolution of wing morphology while host specialization does not affect the wing shape within the subfamily Aphidiinae.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions. This research was supported by the Grant III43001 (The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia). We thank to Dr. Lydia Mitits from the Democritus University of Thrace, Komotiní, Greece and Antonis Mylonopoulos, Komotiní, Greece for the English language proofreading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, Niš, 18000, Serbia

    Vladimir Žikić, Saša S. Stanković & Marijana Ilić Milošević

  2. Institute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Andjeljko Petrović, Željko Tomanović & Ana Ivanović

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK

    Christian Peter Klingenberg

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  1. Vladimir Žikić
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Correspondence to Vladimir Žikić.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplement 1

The data and parameters used for the analysis of selected parasitoids. Country’s abbreviations: BEL = Belgium, CHE = Switzerland, CHL = Chile, CHN = China, CZE = Czech Republic, FRA = France, GRC = Greece, IND = India, IRN = Iran, JPN = Japan, MNE = Montenegro, NLD = Netherlands, SLO = Slovenia, SRB = Serbia. Legator’s abbreviations: AM = A. Mitrovski-Bogdanović, AP = A. Petrović, BL = B. Lavandero, CV = C. Vorburger, ER = E. Rakhshani, HT = H. Takada, KK = K. Kos, MB = M. Brajković, MD = M. Djordjević, MI = M. Ilić Milošević, MJ = M. Janković, NK = N. Kavalliearatos, PS = P. Starý, SS = S. Stanković, VŽ = V. Žikić, ZK = Z. Kojičić, ŽT = Ž. Tomanović (XLSX 16 kb)

Supplement 2

DNA extraction, amplification, sequencing and phylogenetic reconstruction. (DOCX 13 kb)

Suppl. Fig. 1

Phylogenetic relationships of Aphidiinae obtained from sequences of cytochrome c oxidase I using Maximum likelihood method. Bootstrap values are indicated above/below branches. Scale bar indicates the number of substituted bases per site. Information is presented with parasitoid species name following with specimen GenBank accession number or voucher code (Apendix 1). A phylogenetic three supports the traditional phylogenetic relations of Aphidiinae species based on morphological traits (Mackauer 1961; Gärdenfors 1986) and molecular data (Belshaw and Quicke 1997; Sanchis et al. 2000). Also in accordance with literature, Pseudephedrus stands out as a completely separate clade at the very base of the phylogenetic tree like it is earlier shown based on other genes (Belshaw et al. 2000). The position of Lipolexis gracilis out of the clade that comprise Trioxys and Monoctonus (subtribe Trioxina) is unexpected as estimations of phylogenetic relationships based on ribosomal DNA indicated that Lipolexis was coherent within the subtribe Trioxina (Sanchis et al. 2000). (GIF 94 kb)

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Žikić, V., Stanković, S.S., Petrović, A. et al. Evolutionary relationships of wing venation and wing size and shape in Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Org Divers Evol 17, 607–617 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-017-0338-2

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