This article investigates the evolutionary dynamics of LTR retroelements, focusing on their phylogenetic and network-based analyses. The authors combined phylogenetic and graph analyses to explore the history of LTR retroelements, using 268 non-redundant LTR retroelements. They found that the evolutionary history of LTR retroelements can be traced as a time-evolving network, influenced by phylogenetic patterns, epigenetic host factors, and phenotypic plasticity. The Ty1/Copia and Ty3/Gypsy families represent the oldest patterns, mimicking eukaryotic macroevolution. The emergence of the BellPao, Retroviridae, and Caulimoviridae families is associated with distinct inflations of the Ty3/Gypsy family at different evolutionary times, suggesting that Ty3/Gypsy ancestors diversified more than their Ty1/Copia counterparts. The connectivities among phenotypic markers are power-law distributed, indicating an inflationary mode of evolution where the system diversity expands continuously, alternating between vertical and gradual processes of phylogenetic divergence and episodes of modular, saltatory, and reticulate evolution. The study also highlights the role of LTR retroelements in shaping the complexity and size of host genomes over evolutionary time.This article investigates the evolutionary dynamics of LTR retroelements, focusing on their phylogenetic and network-based analyses. The authors combined phylogenetic and graph analyses to explore the history of LTR retroelements, using 268 non-redundant LTR retroelements. They found that the evolutionary history of LTR retroelements can be traced as a time-evolving network, influenced by phylogenetic patterns, epigenetic host factors, and phenotypic plasticity. The Ty1/Copia and Ty3/Gypsy families represent the oldest patterns, mimicking eukaryotic macroevolution. The emergence of the BellPao, Retroviridae, and Caulimoviridae families is associated with distinct inflations of the Ty3/Gypsy family at different evolutionary times, suggesting that Ty3/Gypsy ancestors diversified more than their Ty1/Copia counterparts. The connectivities among phenotypic markers are power-law distributed, indicating an inflationary mode of evolution where the system diversity expands continuously, alternating between vertical and gradual processes of phylogenetic divergence and episodes of modular, saltatory, and reticulate evolution. The study also highlights the role of LTR retroelements in shaping the complexity and size of host genomes over evolutionary time.