ArticleNature ecology & evolution2023
A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins.
Abstract read
In one paragraph
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers.
0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
75citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed.
- Distinctive gene expression in the reduced first thoracic legs of a nymphalid butterfly.Insect molecular biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Disruption of mitonuclear coadaptation and compensatory evolution after an extreme dietary shift in carnivorous butterflies.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- Soaring Systematics: An Evaluation of Biogeography and Flight Behavior in Dragonflies and Damselflies (Insecta: Odonata) Using Phylogenomics.Systematic biology · 2026Article
- Observed core-to-transition biodiversity gradient may be a statistical artefact.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- Seasonal Variation of Butterfly Diversity in Subtropical Urban Forests of Nepal.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Structural genomics sheds light on protein functions and remote homologs across the insect tree of life.Cell research · 2026Article
- Climate and regional plant richness drive diet specialization in butterfly caterpillars.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Phylogenetic Analyses of True Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Coccinellini) Reveal Directionality in Diet Evolution and Support a Boreotropical Origin of the Tribe.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Are Toxic Butterflies More Easily Detected by Human 'Predators'?Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Exploring the impact of Cenozoic climate change on diversification of the Australian endemic Eurepini crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Eneopterinae).Communications biology · 2026Article
- Cellular innovations and diversity in the lepidopteran compound eye.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- An Equatorial Hemispheric Barrier Shapes the Diversification of Migratory Belenois Butterflies.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Article
- Three butterfly genera across the Central Texas Suture Zone.The taxonomic report of the International Lepidoptera Survey · 2026Article
- Revision of the comose flame moths of the genusZooKeys · 2026Article
- The genome sequence of the Provence Hairstreak,Wellcome open research · 2026Article
- A high-quality draft genome assembly of the Neotropical butterfly, Batesia hypochlora (Nymphalidae: Biblidinae).BMC genomics · 2025Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
88 authors.
Akito Y KawaharaMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. kawahara@flmnh.ufl.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-3724-4610
Caroline StorerMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Ana Paula S CarvalhoMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
David M PlotkinMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2339-655X
Fabien L CondamineCNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier), Montpellier, France.ORCID 0000-0003-1673-9910
Mariana P BragaDepartment of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-1253-2536
Emily A EllisMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Ryan A St LaurentMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Xuankun LiMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Vijay BarveMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Liming CaiDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Chandra EarlMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Paul B FrandsenDepartment of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4801-7579
Hannah L OwensFlorida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0071-1745
Wendy A Valencia-MontoyaDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9246-2330
Kwaku Aduse-PokuBiology Department, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Emmanuel F A ToussaintMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Kelly M DexterMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Tenzing DoleckBiology Department, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Amanda MarkeeMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Rebeccah MesscherMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5887-6636
Y-Lan NguyenBiology Department, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Jade Aster T BadonAnimal Biology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
Hugo A BenítezLaboratorio de Ecología y Morfometría Evolutiva, Centro de Investigación de Estudios Avanzados del Maule, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile.
Michael F BrabyDivision of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Perry A C BuenaventeEntomology Section, National Museum of Natural History, Manila, Philippines.ORCID 0000-0001-8353-6019
Wei-Ping ChanDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7132-9191
Steve C CollinsAfrican Butterfly Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.
Richard A Rabideau ChildersDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7137-3192
Even DankowiczDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Rod EastwoodDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5311-0367
Zdenek F FricBiology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.ORCID 0000-0002-3611-8022
Riley J GottMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Jason P W HallDepartment of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
Winnie HallwachsDepartment of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Nate B HardyDepartment of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Rachel L Hawkins SipeDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2225-1084
Alan HeathDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Jomar D HinolanBotany and National Herbarium Division, National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.ORCID 0000-0002-4446-3803
Nicholas T HomziakMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8855-1303
Yu-Feng HsuCollege of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.ORCID 0000-0003-2091-7775
Yutaka Inayoshi, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Micael G A ItliongBiology Department, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Daniel H JanzenDepartment of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Ian J KitchingNatural History Museum, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-4738-5967
Krushnamegh KunteNational Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India.ORCID 0000-0002-3860-6118
Gerardo LamasMuseo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru.
Michael J LandisDepartment of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8672-6966
Elise A LarsenDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Torben B Larsen
Jing V LeongBiology Department, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Vladimir LukhtanovDepartment of Karyosystematics, Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia.ORCID 0000-0003-2856-2075
Crystal A MaierDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Jose I MartinezMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4368-2729
Dino J MartinsTurkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1581-1642
Kiyoshi Maruyama, Hachiôji, Japan.
Sarah C MaunsellDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Nicolás Oliveira MegaDepartamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0002-9200-1558
Alexander MonastyrskiiVietnam Programme, Fauna & Flora International, Hanoi, Vietnam.ORCID 0000-0001-7645-2458
Ana B B MoraisCentro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas, Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
Chris J MüllerAustralian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4444-8336
Mark Arcebal K NaiveCenter for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China.
Gregory NielsenAquapro, Villavicencio, Colombia.
Pablo Sebastián PadrónMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9104-1657
Djunijanti PeggieResearch Center for Biosystematics and Evolution, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Cibinong-Bogor, Indonesia.
Helena Piccoli RomanowskiDepartamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0001-8342-4607
Szabolcs SáfiánInstitute of Silviculture and Forest Protection, University of West Hungary, Sopron, Hungary.ORCID 0000-0002-0614-4203
Motoki SaitoThe Research Institute of Evolutionary Biology (Insect Study Division), Setagaya, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-0986-5743
Stefan Schröder, Köln, Germany.
Vaughn ShireyDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Doug SoltisFlorida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8638-4137
Pamela SoltisFlorida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9310-8659
Andrei SourakovMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7835-7232
Gerard TalaveraDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1112-1345
Roger VilaInstitut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Univ. Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-2447-4388
Petr VlasanekT.G. Masaryk Water Research Institute, Prague, Czech Republic.
Houshuai WangDepartment of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Andrew D WarrenMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Keith R WillmottMcGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9228-0219
Masaya YagoThe University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-2168-9009
Walter JetzDepartment of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1971-7277
Marta A JarzynaDepartment of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6734-0566
Jesse W BreinholtFlorida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3867-2430
Marianne EspelandLeibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-6800-4783
Leslie RiesDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Robert P GuralnickFlorida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6682-1504
Naomi E PierceDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. npierce@oeb.harvard.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-3366-1625
David J LohmanBiology Department, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA. dlohman@ccny.cuny.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-0689-2906
Funding
EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020) 851188Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation | Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) 304273/2014-7Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation | Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) 563332/2010-7National Science Foundation (NSF) DBI-1256742National Science Foundation (NSF) DBI-1349345National Science Foundation (NSF) DBI-1601369National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB-0447244National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB-1541500National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB-1541557National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB-1541560National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB-1557007National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB-9615760National Science Foundation (NSF) IOS-1920895National Science Foundation (NSF) SES-0750480Russian Science Foundation (RSF) 19-14-00202
Abstract
Butterflies are a diverse and charismatic insect group that are thought to have evolved with plants and dispersed throughout the world in response to key geological events. However, these hypotheses have not been extensively tested because a comprehensive phylogenetic framework and datasets for butterfly larval hosts and global distributions are lacking. We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,300 butterfly species, sampled from 90 countries and 28 specimen collections, to reconstruct a new phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera. Our phylogeny has strong support for nearly all nodes and demonstrates that at least 36 butterfly tribes require reclassification. Divergence time analyses imply an origin ~100 million years ago for butterflies and indicate that all but one family were present before the K/Pg extinction event. We aggregated larval host datasets and global distribution records and found that butterflies are likely to have first fed on Fabaceae and originated in what is now the Americas. Soon after the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, butterflies crossed Beringia and diversified in the Palaeotropics. Our results also reveal that most butterfly species are specialists that feed on only one larval host plant family. However, generalist butterflies that consume two or more plant families usually feed on closely related plants.
Indexed as
ButterfliesPhylogenyAnimalsBiological Evolution
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390
Registered trials
None linked
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.