Sequence data for barcoding.zip from Recent origin and diversification accompanied by repeated host shifts of thallus-mining flies (Diptera: Agromyzidae) on liverworts and hornworts

Despite the vast diversity of phytophagous insects that feed on vascular plants (tracheophytes), insects that feed on bryophytes remain understudied. Agromyzidae, one of the most species-rich phytophagous clades in Diptera, consists mainly of leaf-mining species that feed on tracheophytes. However, a recent discovery of thallus-mining species on liverworts and hornworts within the <i>Liriomyza</i> group of Phytomyzinae provides an opportunity to study host shifts between tracheophytes and bryophytes. This study aimed to explore the origin and diversification of thallus-miners and estimate the pattern and timing of host shifts. Phylogenetic analysis of Phytomyzinae has revealed that the thallus-mining agromyzids formed a separate clade, which was sister to a fern pinnule-miner. The diversification of bryophyte-associated agromyzids since the Oligocene involved multiple host shifts across various bryophyte taxa. The diversification of the thallus-mining <i>Phytoliriomyza</i> may have occurred at the same time as the leaf-mining agromyzid flies on herbaceous plants, indicating a dynamic history of interactions between bryophytes and herbivores in angiosperms-dominated ecosystems.