Phylogenetic position and taxonomic rearrangement ofDavidina(Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae), an enigmatic butterfly genus new for Europe and America

Abstract

Davidina, an enigmatic butterfly genus described from China in the 19th century, has been long time considered a member of the family Pieridae due to its pierid-like wing pattern. In the 20th century, it was transferred to the family Satyridae (now subfamily Satyrinae of Nymphalidae) based on analysis of genitalia structure and placed next to the species-rich genus Oeneis (subtribe Satyrina), being separated from the latter by supposed differences in wing venation. Here we conducted phylogenetic and taxonomic study of the subtribe Satyrina using analysis of molecular and morphological characters. We show that the genus Oeneis is not monophyletic, and consists of two non-sister, genetically diverged and morphologically differentiated groups (Oeneis s.s. and Protoeneis). We also demonstrate that Davidina is closely related to Protoeneis, not to Oeneis s.s. To avoid the discovered non-monophyly and morphological heterogeneity, several species should be extracted from Oeneis and transferred to the genus Davidina. As a consequence, we conclude that the name Protoeneis Gorbunov, 2001 is congeneric with Davidina Oberthür, 1879. We also conclude that Davidina is not a monotypic Chinese endemic genus as it has been previously supposed, but is composed of nine species and has a broad distribution area in the Holarctic region including Europe and America.

Phylogeny and biogeography of arctic‐alpine butterflies of the genusOeneis(Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)

“…2a). Recently, there has been supporting evidence published that the genus Davidina is closely related to the tarpeja group of Oeneis (Yang & Zhang 2015; Lukhtanov & Dubatolov 2020). Our data is in agreement with these new classifications; that is, as in Figure 2, the first main Asian clade consists of Davidina and Protoeneis , and the second clade consists of Neominois and Oeneis sensu stricto including American components.…”

“…2006; Chazot et al . 2019; Lukhtanov & Dubatolov 2020). Sample numbers, species, phylogenetic clades, Oeneis groups, collection locations and GenBank accession numbers are listed in Table S1.…”

“…Two endemic species, D. armandi and D. alticola , are known to comprise the genus Davidina , with D. armandi analyzed in this study. Neominois ridingsii (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), also considered to be related to the genus Oeneis (Lukhtanov & Dubatolov 2020), were included from GenBank. As outgroups, Karanasa pamira (Nimphalidae, Satyrinae), a group within the tribe Satyrini was used from GenBank (Peña et al .…”

“…The first thoracic limbs in these butterflies are significantly degenerated and traced, and male and female genitalia are similar to those of the genus Oeneis (particularly O. urda and O. sculda ), and the wing venation is also similar to that of the genus Oeneis (Kusnezov 1930). According to a more recent molecular study seeking to clarify the phylogenetic relationship between the closely related genera Oeneis , Davidina , Neominois , Karanasa and Paroeneis , a new classification of the subtribe Satyrina was proposed with one group comprising Oeneis and Neominois and the other group including Protoeneis and Davidina (Lukhtanov & Dubatolov 2020). With regard to the phylogeny of Oeneis , a recent molecular study of 19 species of the genus Oeneis reported the diversification and phylogeny of this group (Kleckova et al .…”