A molecular phylogeny of the tribe Ambulycini (family: Sphingidae)

"The Ambulycini tribe is comprised of ten genera, three of which are found in tropical Asia (Ambulyx, Amplypterus and Barbourion), four in Neotropical (Adhemarius, Orecta, Protambulyx and Trogolegnum), one in Africa (Batocnema), one in Middle East (Akbesia) and one restricted to the New Caledonian island (Compsulyx). Morphological studies suggest that the Neotropical genera form a monophyletic group. In addition, these studies also suggest the close relationship of the New Caledonia genus to the Neotropical despite being on the opposite site of the pacific. However molecular studies based on the analysis of full mitochondrial genome, has shown the paraphyly of the Neotropical genera as Protambulyx seems to be a sister group of the African genus. Furthermore it was observed that one of the Neotropical genus, Adhemarius is polyphyletic, however previous research suggest that form a monophyletic group. Molecular studies have also shown the paraphyly of the Tropical Asia genera. Moreover, the construction of the phylogenetic tree has identified the genus Ambulyx as basal taxon of the tribe suggesting tropical Asia as the area in which the tribe first evolved. However, the relationship of the New Caledonian genus to the Neotropical remains unknown as the failure to sequence this genus has made it difficult."