On 30. January at 10:15 Vineesh Nedumpally will defend his doctoral thesis "Assembling the phylogenetic tree of northern European macroheteroceran moths" for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Zoology and Ecology).
Supervisors:
Research Fellow Erki Õunap, University of Tartu
Professor Toomas Tammaru, University of Tartu
Opponent:
Research Fellow Kyung Min Lee, University of Helsinki (Finland)
It is still not fully known which insect species are more closely or more distantly related to each other. Constructing evolutionary trees based on DNA sequences helps to clarify this question. In the present study, evolutionary trees were constructed for the moth families Drepanidae, Geometridae, and Noctuidae, with emphasis on northern European species. The present study used a combination of Sanger and next-generation sequencing data which were integrated with publicly available genomic resources. For Drepanidae, analyses of 37 species confirmed that the four subfamilies really form separate branches of the phylogenetic tree. Moreover, repeated losses of characteristic hooked wingtips were revealed, as well as distinct groups comprising only “winter moths” and pink/orange-marked genera. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of north European Geometridae, built from over 600 loci for 117 species and expanded with Sanger sequencing data for 376 species, produced a well-supported tree leading to several taxonomic revisions. These included describing new tribes (Lampropterygini, Pelurgini), reviving genera (Ochyria, Epelis, Speranza), and redefining several tribes. In Noctuidae, phylogenomic analyses of 333 species yielded a robust tree confirming key relationships and prompting several taxonomic updates, such as synonymizations, updates in taxon ranks, and reinstatements of several genera and tribes. Time-calibrated analyses of Noctuidae indicated that the tribe Apameini diversified around 8.7 million years ago – much later than previously thought – and that the switch of larvae to feed within their host plants may have promoted its diversification during the simultaneous late Miocene grassland expansion.
The defence will be held in Oecologicum, room 127, The doctoral dissertation defense can also be followed online via Zoom.
https://ut-ee.zoom.us/j/92764219797?pwd=67UQ2EKTjf2XKVTefBwutawEPJQcxk.1 (meeting ID 927 6421 9797, passcode: 245978)
