Considerations on the Systematics of Neotropical Pierina, with the Description of Two New Species of Phulia Herrich-Schäffer from the Peruvian Andes (Lepidoptera: Pieridae, Pierinae, Pierini)

Tomasz W. Pyrcz, Keith R. Willmott, Gerardo Lamas, Pierre Boyer, Klaudia Florczyk, Christer Fåhraeus, Oscar Mahecha, José Cerdeña, Artur Mrozek, Jackie Farfán, Anna Zubek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

A comparative analysis of high-Andean Pierina was carried out, including a total of 25 species. Based on morphological evidence, with an emphasis on venation and genitalia and molecular data, using three genetic markers, we confirm the recent subjective synonymy of the generic names Tatochila Butler, 1870, Piercolias, Staudinger, 1894, Hypsochila Ureta, 1955, Infraphulia Field, 1958, Pierphulia Field, 1958, and Theochila Field, 1958 with Phulia Herrich-Schäffer, 1867. Two new species are described, namely Phulia stoddardi Pyrcz & Cerdeña n. sp., from the Andes of Central Peru, which occurs at an unusually high altitude of close to 5000 m a.s.l. in dry puna habitat, and Phulia phantasma Lamas, Willmott & Boyer n. sp., from dry montane forests in northern Peru and southern Ecuador. An overview of high-elevation butterflies is presented, with some discussion on adaptations to this environment.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNeotropical Entomology
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Haydon Warren-Gash (London, UK) for critical reading of the manuscript and Akito Kawahara (FLMNH) and the ButterflyNet Consortium (supported by National Science Foundation DEB-1541500) for providing the sequences of nuclear genes of P. homoeodice.

Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by the project of the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa (UNSA) with Contract IBA-001–2019-UNSA and by an internal grant of the Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research of the Jagiellonian University (K/ZDS/007357), and the field work of TP in Peru was supported by the NCN grant Harmonia-10 2018/30/M/NZ8/00293 “Evolutionary biogeography and diversification of the predominantly Andean butterfly subtribe Pronophilina (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) based on phylogenetic data generated using modern molecular methods.”

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • COI barcoding
  • Cordillera Negra
  • Male and female genitalia
  • P. phantasma n. sp
  • P. stoddardi n. sp
  • Puna
  • Venation

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