Molecular phylogeny of Sterrhinae moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae): towards a global classification

A multigene phylogenetic study was carried out to test current, mostly morphology-based hypotheses on Sterrhinae phylogeny with additional material included from further geographical areas and morphologically different lineages. A maximum likelihood analysis (11 molecular markers and 7665 bp) was conducted on 76 species and 41 genera using iq-tree software. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis is well resolved and branches have high support values. Results generally agree with earlier hypotheses at tribal levels and support the hypothesis that Sterrhinae comprises two major lineages. Based on the molecular phylogeny and extensive morphological examination, nine tribes are considered valid and the following taxonomic changes are introduced to recognize monophyletic groups: Mecoceratini Guenée, 1858 (= Ametridini Prout, 1910) is transferred from Desmobathrinae to Sterrhinae, and it is considered valid at tribal level new classification ; Haemaleini Sihvonen & Brehm is described as a new tribe and deemed sister to Scopulini + Lissoblemmini; Lissoblemmini Sihvonen & Staude is described as a new tribe and sister to Scopulini; Lythriini Herbulot, 1962 is now a junior synonym of Rhodometrini Agenjo, 1952 syn.n. ; and Rhodostrophiini Prout, 1935 is now a junior synonym of Cyllopodini Kirby, 1892 syn.n. In addition, 48 taxa are transferred from other geometrid subfamilies to Sterrhinae, or within Sterrhinae from one tribe to another, or they are classified into a tribe for the first time, or a new genus classification is proposed. The results demonstrate the limited explanatory power of earlier classifications, particularly at the tribal level. This is probably a result of earlier classifications being based on superficial characters and biased towards the European and North American fauna. The species richness and distribution of Sterrhinae and its constituent tribes are reviewed, showing that the globally distributed Sterrhinae are most diverse in the Neotropics (31% of global fauna). They are species-rich in the Palaearctic (22%), Afrotropics (19%) and Indo-Malay (16%) regions, whereas they are almost absent in Oceania (1%). In terms of the described fauna, the most species-rich tribes are Scopulini (928 species), Sterrhini (876 species) and Cosymbiini (553 species), all of which have a cosmopolitan distribution. Mecoceratiini and Haemaleini are almost entirely Neotropical. Timandrini and Lissoblemmini, by contrast, are absent in the Neotropics. We present a revised classification of the global Sterrhinae fauna, which includes about 3000 putatively valid species, classified into nine tribes and 97 genera. Four genera are of uncertain position within Sterrhinae. Our results highlight the compelling need to include more genera from a global perspective in molecular phylogenetic studies, in order to create a stable global classification for this subfamily. This published work has been registered on ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org :pub:A66F5DDD-06D6-4908-893E-E8B124BB99B1.     

Species delimitation and evolutionary relationships among Phoebis New World sulphur butterflies (Lepidoptera,Pieridae, Coliadinae)

The most accepted taxonomic treatment of the New World sulphurs of the genus Phoebis Hübner, [1819] recognizes 16 species including those in the current synonyms Aphrissa and Rhabdodryas. This total conflicts with the results of several recent pierid DNA barcode studies across the Neotropics. We used a five-locus dataset to carry out species delimitation analyses using the coalescence-based method implemented in bpp software. After testing the resulting species hypotheses using marginal likelihood estimates, we inferred their phylogenetic relationships and performed an ancestral range reconstruction with biogeobears. Our analyses recovered two different hypotheses, 26 and 24 species, that scored the highest marginal likelihood estimate. Differences between these two hypotheses, when reconciled with barcode clusters and morphology, indicated that 24 is the most likely number of species. Phoebis neocypris stat. rev. , Phoebis rurina stat. rev. , Phoebis virgo stat. rev. , Phoebis marcellina stat. rev. , Phoebis thalestris stat. rev. , and Phoebis rorata stat. rev. are raised to the species rank. We dated the crown age of Phoebis to the mid-Miocene, with the islands of the Greater Antilles as the most probable ancestral range. Three main clades of Phoebis diverged early in the evolutionary history of the genus, but most extant species-level diversity arose after the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary. Our analyses recovered alternate range expansions and contractions, and dispersal from the islands to the continent and back, in the three main clades. Both sympatric and allopatric speciation seem to have shaped the current species richness.