Megadiverse insect groups, which make up majority of earth's diversity, hold great potential to understand the processes that have led to the current uneven distribution of biodiversity. Understanding how and why some groups have become more species-rich than other groups is a central problem in the life sciences, and such knowledge is in great demand in our current society that is facing planetary events such as the sixth extinction and insect decline. We use geometrid moths, a globally distributed insect radiation with ca. 25 000 species, as our target to study the macroevolutionary perspectives of diversification. We will use genomic tools to build molecular timed phylogeny, which forms the basis for the diversification analyses. We expect to understand clade-specific variation in diversification rates and which key adaptive innovations may explain the observed patterns. The results could be used e.g. in making priorisations in conservation biology and pre-identification of pests.

2020

2024