Systematics and evolution of the African butterfly genus Mylothris (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)

By

Warren-Gash, Haydon
Aduse-Poku, Kwaku
Murillo-Ramos, Leidys
Wahlberg, Niklas

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020-2-11

Original Publication

Nota lepidopterologica

Volume

43

Pages

1--14

Subjects

Afrotropics , molecular phylogeny , Pieridae , timing of divergence

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Bonn,

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.43.46354

 

Abstract

We study the systematics and evolutionary history of the Afrotropical butterfly genus Mylothris (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) based on six gene regions (COI, EF1a, GAPDH, MDH, RpS5 and wingless). We find that the genus can be placed into five species groups, termed the jacksoni, elodina, rhodope, agathina and hilara groups. Within these species groups, we find that many species show very little genetic differentiation based on the markers we sequenced, suggesting they have undergone rapid and recent speciation. Based on secondary calibrations, we estimate the age of the crown group of Mylothris to be about 16 million years old, but that many of the species level divergences have happened in the Pleistocene. We infer that the clade has its origin in the forests of the Eastern part of Central Africa, and has spread out from there to other regions of Africa.