Assessing phylogenetic relationships between emerald moth (Geometridae: Geometrinae) tribes using next-gen sequencing

The emerald moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae) are a cosmopolitan subfamily with over 225 genera. The majority of these moths are characterized by a green ground color, although the shade of green varies across the subfamily. Recent phylogenetic analyses have confirmed the monophyly of Geometrinae, as well as the monophyly of some of the individual tribes. However, the relative placement of many of these tribes is poorly supported, and it has been speculated that some tribes are paraphyletic. Using anchored hybrid enrichment, a novel method of next-generation sequencing,  approximately 300 genes of representative species of geometrine tribes were sequenced and used to generate a preliminary maximum likelihood tree indicating the relative placement of the emerald moth tribes. Although many Geometrinae taxa were not incorporated into this tree, it can be used as a backbone for future phylogenetic analyses with additional taxon sampling.