Phylogenetic Relationship Between Tephritid Flies And Host Plants In Hongyuan County,Sichuan Province

The tephritid flies belong to Arthropoda,Insecta,Diptera,Tephritidae.Chinese tephritid flies are primarily from three subfamilies including Dacinae and Trypetinae that are mostly frugivorous and hence of economic significance and Tephritinae that often interacts with Compositae plants.The species diversity and floral distribution have been substantially described for the former two subfamilies,but the ecology and evolution is little known for the latter one,particularly in the Tibet Plateau.I conducted a long period of field survey for tephritid flies collection in the alpine meadows of Hongyuan County,Sichuan Province.I identified and described all the collected fly species by morphology and molecular COI(cytochrome C oxidase subunit I)barcoding,and I constructed a phylogenetic tree for the fly species.Then,based on the previously known "plants-tephritid flies" bipartite structure,I determined whether phylogenetic relationship among species affect their trophic interactions with the partner species.A total of 31 species of tephritid flies were identified to belong to 6 genera including Campiglossa,Tephritis,Trupanea,Oedaspis,Urophora and Terellia.The species richness of the genus Campiglossa and the genus Tephritis are the highest,accounting for 57%and 20%of the total species number.The host plants of the tephritid flies belong to 23 species.9 genera of Compositae.Most fly species are generalist species,having more than two host species.A significant phylogenetic asymmetry was found in the interaction between tephritid flies and host plants.The phylogenetically and closely correlated plants were usually attacked by phylogenetically and closely correlated flies.whereas phylogenetically and closely correlated flies did not necessarily attack the closely correlated host plants.This might be due to 1)intense exploitation competition between flies as most flies were similar in life history traits with a short phenology window for adult fly oviposition,2)uncommon food limitation as most host plants could provide sufficient resources for the growth and development of the flies.My study may help lay a foundation for community species diversity and quantitative food web research.