Niklas Wahlberg
Research interests
My main research interests lie with the evolutionary history of a megadiverse clade, Lepidoptera. I am interested in when, where and how various clades diversified. I use mainly molecular systematic methods in my work and am beginning to use Next Gen sequencing technologies. I am particularly interested in developing laboratory protocols to utilize museum specimens in my work, as often many crucial taxa are very difficult to find and collect, while such taxa are well represented in museum collections that have been amassed over the past couple of centuries.
My group is beginning to elucidate the reasons behind the evolutionary success of Lepidoptera. It appears that the clade originated in the Cretaceous and that many groups diversified in conjunction with the diversification of angiospermous plants. One particularly interesting pattern we have uncovered is that it appears that most families of Lepidoptera have originated in the late Cretaceous, but have diversified very strongly after the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. Simplified, it looks like the ancestors of what we call families today barely survived the mass extinction event (hypothesized to have been caused by a massive asteroid hitting the Earth) 65 million years ago. Those lineages which survived apparently discovered a wide variety of niches available leading to massive diversification in many lineages, such as Geometridae, Erebidae, and Pyralidae among others. These questions we continue to address in our research today.
Short biography
I am originally from Finland, although I spent my childhood living in places like Nigeria, Sudan, Ghana, USA, Western Samoa and Papua New Guinea. I obtained my PhD at the University of Helsinki in 2000 on the evolutionary biology of checkerspot butterflies. I continued working on the evolutionary biology of butterflies during a 2 year postdoc with Sören Nylin at Stockholm University. During that time, my focus moved more and more towards the molecular phylogenetics of the butterfly family Nymphalidae and in 2002 I received a 4 year forskarassistent position from Vetenskapsrådet, which I carried out at Stockholm University. Following this, I was awarded an Academy Research Fellowship from the Academy of Finland for 2006-2011, which took place at the University of Turku, Finland. I expanded my research to look at the evolutionary history of Lepidoptera as a whole at this point. For 2011-2013 I was employed as a University Researcher at the University of Turku, and was promoted to Professor in Genetics in 2014. Starting in September 2015 I am Professor in Biological Systematics at Lund University.
Publications
Retrieved from Lund University's publications database
Publications
- 2019
- Molecular phylogenetic and morphological studies on the systematic position of Heracula discivitta reveal a new subfamily of Pseudobistonidae (Lepidoptera : Geometroidea)
(2019) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - Molecular systematics of the arctiine tribe Syntomini (Lepidoptera, Erebidae)
(2019) Systematic Entomology
Journal article
- Molecular phylogenetic and morphological studies on the systematic position of Heracula discivitta reveal a new subfamily of Pseudobistonidae (Lepidoptera : Geometroidea)
- 2018
- A simple method for data partitioning based on relative evolutionary rates
(2018) PeerJ
Journal article - An updated checklist of the European Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea)
(2018) ZooKeys
Journal article - Evolution of Hypolimnas butterflies (Nymphalidae) : Out-of-Africa origin and Wolbachia-mediated introgression
(2018) Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Journal article - Evolution within a language : Environmental differences contribute to divergence of dialect groups
(2018) BMC Evolutionary Biology
Journal article - Information Dropout Patterns in Restriction Site Associated DNA Phylogenomics and a Comparison with Multilocus Sanger Data in a Species-Rich Moth Genus
(2018) Systematic Biology
Journal article - Molecular phylogeny and higher systematics of the metalmark butterflies (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae)
(2018) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - Molecular systematics of the subfamily Limenitidinae (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae)
(2018) PeerJ
Journal article - Phylogenetic relationships, biogeography and diversification of Coenonymphina butterflies (Nymphalidae : Satyrinae): intercontinental dispersal of a southern Gondwanan group?
(2018) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - The firefly genus Pteroptyx Olivier revisited (Coleoptera Lampyridae: Luciolinae)
(2018) Zootaxa
Journal article
- A simple method for data partitioning based on relative evolutionary rates
- 2017
- Butterfly genomics : Insights from the genome of melitaea cinxia
(2017) Annales Zoologici Fennici
Journal article - DNA barcoding of fish larvae reveals uncharacterised biodiversity in tropical peat swamps of New Guinea, Indonesia
(2017) Marine and Freshwater Research
Journal article - Environmentally driven extinction and opportunistic origination explain fern diversification patterns
(2017) Scientific Reports
Journal article - Expanded molecular phylogeny of the genus Bicyclus (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae) shows the importance of increased sampling for detecting semi-cryptic species and highlights potentials for future studies
(2017) Systematics and Biodiversity
Journal article - Interrelationships and diversification of Argynnis Fabricius and Speyeria Scudder butterflies
(2017) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - Polyphagy and diversification in tussock moths : Support for the oscillation hypothesis from extreme generalists
(2017) Ecology and Evolution
Journal article - Systematics and origin of moths in the subfamily Arctiinae (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) in the Neotropical region
(2017) Zoologica Scripta
Journal article
- Butterfly genomics : Insights from the genome of melitaea cinxia
- 2016
- 'Species' from two different butterfly genera combined into one : Description of a new genus of Euptychiina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) with unusually variable wing pattern
(2016) Revista Brasileira de Entomologia
Journal article - Molecular phylogeny and generic-level taxonomy of the widespread palaeotropical 'Heteropsis clade' (Nymphalidae : Satyrinae: Mycalesina)
(2016) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - On oscillations and flutterings-A reply to Hamm and Fordyce
(2016) Evolution
Journal article - PCR primers for 30 novel gene regions in the nuclear genomes of Lepidoptera
(2016) ZooKeys
Journal article - Phylogenetic relationships of Acronictinae with discussion of the abdominal courtship brush in Noctuidae (Lepidoptera)
(2016) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - Putting Parasemia in its phylogenetic place : A molecular analysis of the subtribe Arctiina (Lepidoptera)
(2016) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - Targeted inactivation of the mouse epididymal beta-defensin 41 alters sperm flagellar beat pattern and zona pellucida binding
(2016) Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology
Journal article - Ten genes and two topologies : An exploration of higher relationships in skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae)
(2016) PeerJ
Journal article - What you need is what you eat? Prey selection by the bat Myotis daubentonii.
(2016) Molecular Ecology
Journal article
- 'Species' from two different butterfly genera combined into one : Description of a new genus of Euptychiina (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) with unusually variable wing pattern
- 2015
- A new extant family of primitive moths from Kangaroo Island, Australia, and its significance for understanding early Lepidoptera evolution
(2015) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - A new species of Niganda Moore 1879, from Thailand and description of variation in the male genitalia and female facies of N. radialis Moore (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae, Ceirinae)
(2015) Zootaxa
Journal article - A new subspecies of Anthanassa (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae: Melitaeini) from Southeastern Brazil
(2015) Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
Journal article - Adaptive radiations in butterflies : Evolutionary history of the genus Erebia (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)
(2015) Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Journal article - Advances in Geometroidea phylogeny, with characterization of a new family based on Pseudobiston pinratanai (Lepidoptera, Glossata)
(2015) Zoologica Scripta
Journal article - Elusive ditrysian phylogeny: an account of combining systematized morphology with molecular data (Lepidoptera).
(2015) BMC Evolutionary Biology
Journal article - Molecular phylogeny of Lymantriinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea, Erebidae) inferred from eight gene regions
(2015) Cladistics
Journal article - Morphological variation between populations of the expanding ectoparasitic deer ked Lipoptena cervi (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) in Fennoscandia
(2015) Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Journal article - Multilocus species trees show the recent adaptive radiation of the mimetic heliconius butterflies
(2015) Systematic Biology
Journal article - Natural history and systematic position of Rhetus belphegor (n. comb.) (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae), an endangered butterfly with narrow distribution in Southeast Brazil
(2015) Journal of Insect Conservation
Journal article - Systematics and historical biogeography of the Old World butterfly subtribe Mycalesina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)
(2015) BMC Evolutionary Biology
Journal article - The butterfly plant arms-race escalated by gene and genome duplications
(2015) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Journal article
- A new extant family of primitive moths from Kangaroo Island, Australia, and its significance for understanding early Lepidoptera evolution
- 2014
- Relationships within the Melitaea phoebe species group (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) : new insights from molecular and morphometric information
(2014) Systematic Entomology
Journal article - Revised systematics and higher classification of pierid butterflies (Lepidoptera Pieridae) based on molecular data
(2014) Zoologica Scripta
Journal article - The Glanville fritillary genome retains an ancient karyotype and reveals selective chromosomal fusions in Lepidoptera
(2014) Nature Communications
Journal article
- Relationships within the Melitaea phoebe species group (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) : new insights from molecular and morphometric information
- 2012
- Exploration of data partitioning in an eight-gene data set : Phylogeny of metalmark moths (Lepidoptera, Choreutidae)
(2012) Zoologica Scripta
Journal article
- Exploration of data partitioning in an eight-gene data set : Phylogeny of metalmark moths (Lepidoptera, Choreutidae)
