Deep ancestral introgression shapes evolutionary history of dragonflies and damselflies

Introgression is arguably one of the most important biological processes
in the evolution of groups of related species, affecting at least 10% of
the extant species in the animal kingdom. Introgression reduces genetic
divergence between species, and in some cases can be highly beneficial,
facilitating rapid adaptation to ever-changing environmental pressures.
Introgression also significantly impacts inference of phylogenetic species
relationships where a strictly binary tree model cannot adequately explain
reticulate net-like species relationships. Here we use phylogenomic
approaches to understand patterns of introgression along the evolutionary
history of a unique, non-model insect system: dragonflies and damselflies
(Odonata). We demonstrate that introgression is a pervasive evolutionary
force across various taxonomic levels within Odonata. In particular, we
show that the morphologically “intermediate” species of Anisozygoptera
(one of the three primary suborders within Odonata besides Zygoptera and
Anisoptera), which retain phenotypic characteristics of the other two
suborders, experienced high levels of introgression likely coming from
zygopteran genomes. Additionally, we find evidence for multiple cases of
deep inter-superfamilial ancestral introgression.