Phylotranscriptomics resolves ancient divergences in the Lepidoptera

Classic morphological studies of the oldest, so‐called nonditrysian lineages of Lepidoptera yielded a well‐resolved phylogeny, supported by the stepwise origin of the traits characterizing the clade Ditrysia, which contains over 98% of extant lepidopterans. Subsequent polymerase chain reaction ( PCR )‐based molecular studies have robustly supported many aspects of the morphological hypothesis and strongly contradicted others, while leaving some...