A revised molecular phylogeny of the globally distributed hawkmoth genus Hyles (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences.

The hawkmoth genus Hyles comprises some 29 species with a global distribution. In this study, we augment the previous taxon sampling with more species and add sequences from a nuclear gene to produce a refined phylogenetic hypothesis. A total evidence reconstruction based on Bayesian analysis of the combined mitochondrial (COI, t-RNA-Leu, COII; 2284 bp) and nuclear (EF1alpha; 773 bp) sequences is discussed and compared with the results from separate analyses of the two genes. The total evidence phylogeny corroborates many of the phylogenetic relationships previously postulated within the genus. In addition, the hitherto unsampled enigmatic species Hyles biguttata from Madagascar appears as sister group to Hyles livornicoides from Australia, although support for the relationship is relatively weak. The high level of differentiation of Hyles perkinsi from H. calida (both Hawaii), and the status of these two as sister species, is corroborated by both sources of sequence data. However, their phylogenetic position when mt DNA sequences alone are considered differs markedly from that under total evidence. The previously postulated relationships within the Hyles euphorbiae complex (HEC) s.s. are largely corroborated, but H. dahlii is now more closely related and the HEC s.l. is redefined to include H. zygophylli and H. stroehlei (two species that had not been studied previously using molecular data) and to exclude H. siehei and H. hippophaes. The nuclear sequences alone are insufficiently variable to fully resolve all lineages and the phylogeny suggests that nuclear gene swapping and incomplete lineage sorting have occurred implying recent divergence. The results from the total evidence analysis provide a phylogenetic hypothesis that both corroborates and complements the previous biogeographic scenario, and provides new insights into the origins of several of the included taxa.