Phylogenomics reveals the evolutionary timing and pattern of butterflies and moths

Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are one of the major super-radiations of insects, comprising nearly 160,000 described extant species. As herbivores, pollinators, and prey, Lepidoptera play a fundamental role in almost every terrestrial ecosystem. Lepidoptera are also indicators of environmental change and serve as model organisms for research on mimicry and genetics. They have been central to the development of co-evolutionary hypotheses, such as butterflies with flowering plants, and moths' evolutionary arms race with echolocating bats. However, these hypotheses have not been rigorously tested because a robust lepidopteran phylogeny and timing of evolutionary novelties are lacking. To address these issues, we inferred a comprehensive phylogeny of Lepidoptera, using the largest data set assembled for the order (2,098 orthologous protein-coding genes from 186 species representing nearly all superfamilies), and dated it with carefully evaluated synapomorphy-based fossils. The oldest m...