title: Strepsiptera, phylogenomics and the long branch attraction problem.
abstract: Insect phylogeny has recently been the focus of renewed interest as advances in sequencing techniques make it possible to rapidly generate large amounts of genomic or transcriptomic data for a species of interest. However, large numbers of markers are not sufficient to guarantee accurate phylogenetic reconstruction, and the choice of the model of sequence evolution as well as adequate taxonomic sampling are as important for phylogenomic studies as they are for single-gene phylogenies. Recently, the sequence of the genome of a strepsipteran has been published and used to place Strepsiptera as sister group to Coleoptera. However, this conclusion relied on a data set that did not include representatives of Neuropterida or of coleopteran lineages formerly proposed to be related to Strepsiptera. Furthermore, it did not use models that are robust against the long branch attraction artifact. Here we have sequenced the transcriptomes of seven key species to complete a data set comprising 36 species to study the higher level phylogeny of insects, with a particular focus on Neuropteroidea (Coleoptera, Strepsiptera, Neuropterida), especially on coleopteran taxa considered as potential close relatives of Strepsiptera. Using models robust against the long branch attraction artifact we find a highly resolved phylogeny that confirms the position of Strepsiptera as a sister group to Coleoptera, rather than as an internal clade of Coleoptera, and sheds new light onto the phylogeny of Neuropteroidea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States of America; Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université Lyon 1, Université de Lyon, Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Bastien
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Boussau
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Zaak
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Walton
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoologia y Antropologia Fisica, Facultad de Biologia, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoologia y Antropologia Fisica, Facultad de Biologia, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Collantes
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italia.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beani
authors.affiliation: Fisher High School, Fisher, IL, United States of America; Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, United States of America.
authors.forename: Isaac J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sydney A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, United States of America.
authors.forename: James B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Whitfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States of America.
authors.forename: J Spencer
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Peter W H
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bachtrog
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jeyaraney
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kathirithamby
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States of America; Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Huelsenbeck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D023281:Genomics; D007313:Insecta / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal
chemical_list: D012335:RNA, Ribosomal