Phylogeny of Automeris and relatives

The saturniid moth genus Automeris includes 135 described species (Lemaire). Their geographic distribution ranges from the eastern half of North America to as far south as Peru. Automeris moths are cryptically colored and their forewings resemble dead leaves, with conspicuously colored, elaborate eyespots hidden on their hindwings. Despite their charismatic nature, the evolutionary history and relationships within Automeris and between closely related genera, remain poorly understood. In this study, we present the most comprehensive phylogeny of Automeris to date, including 80 of the 135 described species. We also incorporate two morphologically similar hemileucine genera, Pseudautomeris and Leucanella, as well as a morphologically distinct genus, Molippa. We obtained DNA data from both dry-pinned and ethanol-stored museum specimens and conducted Anchored Hybrid Enrichment (AHE) sequencing to reconstruct a high-quality dataset for phylogenetic analysis. The resulting phylogeny supports Automeris as a paraphyletic genus, with Leucanella and Pseudautomeris nested within, with the most recent common ancestor dating back to 26 mya. This study lays the foundation for future research on various aspects of Automeris biology, including anti-predator defense mechanisms, ecological adaptations, geographical distribution patterns, and potential drivers of sp