“Darwin’s butterflies”? DNA barcoding and the radiation of the endemic Caribbean butterfly genus Calisto (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae)

Abstract

The genus Calisto Hübner, 1823 is the only member of the diverse, global subfamily Satyrinae found in the West Indies, and by far the richest endemic Caribbean butterfly radiation. Calisto species occupy an extremely diverse array of habitats, suggestive of adaptive radiation on the scale of other classic examples such as the Galápagos or Darwin’s finches. However, a reliable species classification is a key requisite before further evolutionary or ecological research. An analysis of 111 DNA ‘barcodes’ (655 bp of the mitochondrial gene COI) from 29 putative Calisto species represented by 31 putative taxa was therefore conducted to elucidate taxonomic relationships among these often highly cryptic and confusing taxa. The sympatric, morphologically and ecologically similar taxa Calisto confusa Lathy, 1899 and Calisto confusa debarriera Clench, 1943 proved to be extremely divergent, and we therefore recognize Calisto debarriera stat. n. as a distinct species, with Calisto neiba Schwartz & Gali, 1984 as a junior synonym syn. n. Species status of certain allopatric, morphologically similar sister species has been confirmed: Calisto hysius (Godart, 1824) (including its subspecies Calisto hysius aleucosticha Correa et Schwartz, 1986, stat. n.), and its former subspecies Calisto batesi Michener, 1943 showed a high degree of divergence (above 6%) and should be considered separate species. Calisto lyceius Bates, 1935/Calisto crypta Gali, 1985/Calisto franciscoi Gali, 1985 complex, also showed a high degree of divergence (above 6%), confirming the species status of these taxa. In contrast, our data suggest that the Calisto grannus Bates, 1939 species complex (including Calisto grannus dilemma González, 1987, Calisto grannus amazona González, 1987, stat. n., Calisto grannus micrommata Schwartz & Gali, 1984, stat. n., Calisto grannus dystacta González, 1987, stat. n., Calisto grannus phoinix González, 1987, stat. n., Calisto grannus sommeri Schwartz & Gali, 1984, stat. n., and Calisto grannus micheneri Clench, 1944, stat. n.) should be treated as a single polytypic species, as genetic divergence among sampled populations representing these taxa is low (and stable morphological apomorphies are absent). A widely-distributed pest of sugar cane, Calisto pulchella Lathy, 1899 showed higher diversification among isolated populations (3.5%) than expected, hence supporting former separation of this species into two taxa (pulchella and darlingtoni Clench, 1943), of which the latter might prove to be a separate species rather than subspecies. The taxonomic revisions presented here result in Calisto now containing 34 species and 17 subspecies. Three species endemic to islands other than Hispaniola appear to be derived lineages of various Hispaniolan clades, indicating ancient dispersal events from Hispaniola to Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica. Overall, the degree of intrageneric and intraspecific divergence within Calisto suggests a long and continuous diversification period of 4–8 Myr. The maximum divergence within the genus (ca. 13.3%) is almost equivalent to the maximum divergence of Calisto from the distant pronophiline relative Auca Hayward, 1953 from the southern Andes (14.1%) and from the presumed closest relative Eretris Thieme, 1905 (14.4%), suggesting that the genus began to diversify soon after its split from its continental sister taxon. In general, this ‘barcode’ divergence corresponds to the high degree of morphological and ecological variation found among major lineages within the genus.