Are the Yellow and Red Marked Club-Tail Losaria coon the Same Species?

Abstract

Losaria coon (Fabricius, 1793) is currently comprised of ten subspecies, which were originally described under two names, Papilio coon and P. doubledayi before 1909, when they were combined as one species. The main difference between them is the colour of abdomen and hindwing subterminal spots—yellow in coon and red in doubledayi. Wing morphology, male and female genitalia, and molecular evidence (DNA barcodes) were analysed for multiple subspecies of L. coon and three other Losaria species—rhodifer, neptunus, and palu. Our molecular data support the separation of L. coon and L. doubledayi stat. rev. as two distinct species, with L. rhodifer positioned between them in phylogenetic analyses. Wing morphology and genitalic structures also confirm the molecular conclusions. Our findings divide L. coon into two species occupying different geographic ranges: with L. coon restricted to southern Sumatra, Java, and Bawean Island, while L. doubledayi occurs widely in regions from North India to northern Sumatra, including Hainan and Nicobar Islands. Hence, future conservation efforts must reassess the status and threat factors of the two species to form updated strategies.

The first record of the monospecific genus Rhinopalpa (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from China

“…In recent years, three cryptic species of butterflies were discovered from Indochina, Graphium ( Pazala ) daiyuanae Hu, Zhang & Cotton, 2018, Graphium ( Pazala ) wenlingae Hu, Cotton & Monastyrskii, 2019 and Losaria doubledayi (Wallace, 1865), all of them being forest species ( Hu et al 2018 , Hu et al 2019 , Xu et al 2020 ). Hence isolations are very likely between different populations in Indochina as a result of geographical barriers and environment heterogeneity, especially in forest species (e.g.…”

Butterfly Conservation in China: From Science to Action

“…When these aspects are taken together, even unweighted, narrow-ranged, human- and climate-stressed species should attain priority for listing. Based on this concept, for instance, the Class I Teinopalpus aureus would likely to be downgraded to Class II due to its wide distribution range in China [ 88 ], while Losaria doubledayi currently in the EES List would probably be listed as Class I due to its very restricted range only in Hainan Island [ 107 ].…”

“…The other aspect of genetic diversity research is to determine the degree of population divergence, especially in species covering a wide geographical range with internal barriers. When genetic divergence among analysed populations reaches subspecies levels, conservation strategies must be formulated based on the population sizes and distribution ranges of the subspecies [ 107 ]. Priorities should be given to those with lower population sizes or narrower distribution ranges.…”

“…Priorities should be given to those with lower population sizes or narrower distribution ranges. A hidden usage of this evaluation is to detect cryptic species mixed in morphologically similar groups [107,138,139]. Misidentification of such species as subspecies would jeopardise future ex situ rescue involving translocations, as the environmental requirements for different species can vary significantly from those of different subspecies belonging to a same species.…”

A new species of Rhodambulyx Mell, 1939 (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) from Southwest Chongqing, China

“…DNA amplification followed Xu et al (2020). The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out in a 25 μL system using the TaKaRa Ex Taq Kit (TaKaRa Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Dalian, China).…”