A comprehensive phylogeny of Pieridae butterflies reveals a strong correlation between diversification and temperature

Temperature is thought to be a key factor influencing global species richness patterns. We investigate the link between temperature and diversification in the butterfly Family Pieridae by combining next-generation sequences and published molecular data with fine-grained distribution data. We sampled nearly 600 pierid species to build the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Family and curated a distribution dataset of more than 800,000 occurrences. We found strong evidence that species in environments with more stable daily temperatures or cooler maximum temperatures in the warm seasons have higher speciation rates. Furthermore, speciation and extinction rates decreased in tandem with global temperatures through geological time, resulting in a constant net diversification.

Methods
Sequence data were obtained through anchored hybrid enrichment de novo sequencing and from publicly available sequence data.