Key Innovations and the Diversification of Hymenoptera

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2023 Mar 3

PMID 36869077

Authors

Bonnie B Blaimer

Bernardo F Santos

Astrid Cruaud

Michael W Gates

Robert R Kula

Istvan Miko

Jean-Yves Rasplus

David R Smith

Elijah J Talamas

Sean G Brady

Matthew L Buffington

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The order Hymenoptera (wasps, ants, sawflies, and bees) represents one of the most diverse animal lineages, but whether specific key innovations have contributed to its diversification is still unknown. We assembled the largest time-calibrated phylogeny of Hymenoptera to date and investigated the origin and possible correlation of particular morphological and behavioral innovations with diversification in the order: the wasp waist of Apocrita; the stinger of Aculeata; parasitoidism, a specialized form of carnivory; and secondary phytophagy, a reversal to plant-feeding. Here, we show that parasitoidism has been the dominant strategy since the Late Triassic in Hymenoptera, but was not an immediate driver of diversification. Instead, transitions to secondary phytophagy (from parasitoidism) had a major influence on diversification rate in Hymenoptera. Support for the stinger and the wasp waist as key innovations remains equivocal, but these traits may have laid the anatomical and behavioral foundations for adaptations more directly associated with diversification.

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