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Title: Molecular phylogeny of the wood-boring beetle family Buprestidae and insights into the evolution of host use
Abstract: The family Buprestidae, also known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles, contains nearly 15,000 species in 522 genera. Together with the small family Schizopodidae (7 species, 3 genera), they form the superfamily Buprestoidea. Adult Buprestoidea feed on flowers or foliage, whereas larvae are mostly internal feeders, boring in roots or stems, or mining the leaves of woody or herbaceous plants. The subfamilial and tribal classification of Buprestoidea remains unsettled, with substantially different schemes proposed by different workers based on morphology. Here we report the first large-scale molecular phylogenetic study of the superfamily Buprestoidea based on data from 4 genes for 141 ingroup species. We used these data to reconstruct higher-level relationships, and to assess the current classification and the origins of the larval leaf-mining habit within Buprestidae. In our analyses, the monophyly of Buprestoidea was strongly supported, as was the monophyly of Schizopodidae and its placement sister to Buprestidae. Our results are largely consistent with the generally accepted major lineages of buprestoids, including clearly-defined agrilines, buprestines-chrysochroines, and early-branching julodines-polycestines. In addition to the Schizopodidae, three of the six subfamilies were monophyletic in our study: Agrilinae, Julodinae, and the monogeneric Galbellinae (Galbella). Polycestinae was monophyletic with the exception of the enigmatic Haplostethini. Chrysochroinae and Buprestinae were recovered together in a large mixed clade along with Galbella. The interrelationships of Chrysochroinae and Buprestinae were not well resolved; however they were clearly polyphyletic, with chrysochroine genera falling into several different well-supported clades otherwise comprised of buprestine genera. All of Agrilinae was contained in a single strongly supported clade. Our results confirm multiple origins of larval leaf mining within Buprestidae. The leaf mining genus Paratrachys (Paratracheini) was recovered within the Acmaeoderioid clade, confirming the independent origins of leaf mining within Polycestinae and Agrilinae. Additionally, our results strongly suggest that the leaf mining agriline tribe Tracheini is polyphyletic, as are several of its constituent subtribes. External root feeding was likely the ancestral habit. The evolutionary transitions to internal feeding allowed access to a variety of additional plant tissues, including leaves, potentially spurring adaptive radiations of the diverse and highly specialized leaf mining buprestids.