A molecular phylogeny of Polyommatus s. str. and Plebicula based on mitochondrial COI and nuclear ITS2 sequences (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Martin Wiemers,Dmitrij I Vodolazhsky,Boris V Stradomsky

doi:10.14411/eje.2010.041

Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships of the subgenera Polyommatus and Plebicula, within the Palaearctic butterfly genus Polyommatus, were inferred from a combined analysis of the nuclear marker ITS2 and the barcoding section of the mitochondrial gene COI. Eight major clades were recovered within Polyommatus s. l., which correspond closely to subgenera based on traditional systematics and are of late Pliocene to early Pleistocene origin. Extraordinary chromosomal evolution occurred independently in three of these clades. The disputed position of several species formerly placed in the subgenus Plebicula is clarified. A group of Central Asian species (Bryna) was recovered as a monophyletic clade within Polyommatus s. str. The Kurdistanian endemic P. buzulmavi appears as a sister species to P. icarus. P. celina replaces P. icarus in NW Africa and the Canary Islands, and split from the last common ancestor with P. icarus back in the early Pleistocene.

Highlights

Polyommatus Latreille, 1804 is a genus of blue butterflies, which is distributed throughout the Palaearctic region
Eight major clades were recovered within Polyommatus s. l., which correspond closely to subgenera based on traditional systematics and are of late Pliocene to early Pleistocene origin
Among the nomenclaturally available genus names listed in Eliot (1973) within his “Polyommatus section” several are currently often regarded as synonyms or subgenera of Polyommatus (e.g. Hesselbarth et al, 1995; Bálint & Johnson, 1997; see Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Polyommatus Latreille, 1804 is a genus of blue butterflies, which is distributed throughout the Palaearctic region. Among the nomenclaturally available genus names listed in Eliot (1973) within his “Polyommatus section” several are currently often regarded as synonyms or subgenera of Polyommatus (e.g. Hesselbarth et al, 1995; Bálint & Johnson, 1997; see Table 1). These are Cyaniris Dalman, 1816, Bryna Evans, 1912, Meleageria de Sagarra, 1925, Agrodiaetus Hübner, 1822, Lysandra Hemming, 1933 and Plebicula Higgins, 1969. Kretania Beuret, 1959 was included within Polyommatus by Bálint & Johnson (1997), whereas most other authors (e.g. Hesselbarth et al, 1995) treat Kretania as a subgenus of Plebejus Kluk, 1802. I have fallen back on naming no less than thirty ‘sections’, many of them of no more than subsection or even generic worth.”

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Discussion

Conclusion