Figure 6.

Hypothetical evolutionary history of Hel_c35. This TE was already present in the ancestor of the oriental subgroup of the melanogaster species group; <1 MYA, possibly during nonspecific parasitization of D. rhopaloa, Hel_c35 was horizontally transferred to the C. vestalis lineage. Following transpositional activity in C. vestalis chromosomes, Hel_c35 eventually inserted into an active proviral locus and begun being replicated and encapsidated as the segment c35. Now replicated to high copy numbers and able to infect cells, it was horizontally transferred again (<0.3 MYA) to B. mori, a likely Lepidopteran host of C. vestalis.