Gyda and Cleo have published a study as part of an international research team a paper on the global biogeography of invasive moths and butterflies!
Summary:
Lepidoptera is a highly diverse, predominantly herbivorous insect order, with species transported to outside their native range largely facilitated by the global tradeof plants and plant-based goods. Analogous to island disharmony, we examine invasion disharmony, where species filtering during invasions increases systematic compositional differences between native and non-native species assemblages, and test whether some families are more successful at establishing in non-native regions than others. We compared numbers of non-native, unintentionally introduced Lepidoptera species with the land area of 11 regions worldwide. Differences among native and non-native assemblages in the distribution of species among families wereinvestigated using ordination analysis. We tested whether invasion disharmony is explained by propagule pressure (proxied by species richness in border interceptions) and if families were associated with specific trade commodities. Invasion disharmony in Lepidoptera appears to be driven by processes unrelated to the success of native assemblages. While native assemblages developed through long-term evolutionary radiation, the composition of non-native assemblages is driven by differential invasion pathways and traits affecting the establishment of founder populations that vary among families.
Citation:Mally R, Turner R, Blake R, Fenn-Moltu G, Bertelsmeier C, Brockerhoff E, Hoare R, Narhung H, Roques A, Puerswaran D, Yamanaka T, Liebhold A (2022) Moths and butterflies on alien shores: Global biogeography of non-native Lepidoptera. Journal of Biogeography, https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14393