Biogeographic history of the butterfly subtribe Euptychiina (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae)

Abstract

Peña, C., Nylin, S., Freitas, A. V. L. & Wahlberg, N. (2010). Biogeographic history of the butterfly subtribe Euptychiina (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae).—Zoologica Scripta, 39, 243–258. The diverse butterfly subtribe Euptychiina was thought to be restricted to the Americas. However, there is mounting evidence for the Oriental Palaeonympha opalina being part of Euptychiina and thus a disjunct distribution between it (in eastern Asia) and its sister taxon (in eastern North America). Such a disjunct distribution in both eastern Asia and eastern North America has never been reported for any butterfly taxon. We used 4447 bp of DNA sequences from one mitochondrial gene and four nuclear genes for 102 Euptychiina taxa to obtain a phylogenetic hypothesis of the subtribe, estimate dates of origin and diversification for major clades and perform a biogeographic analysis. Euptychiina originated 31 Ma in South America. Early Euptychiina dispersed from North to South America via the temporary connection known as GAARlandia during Eocene–Oligocene times. The current disjunct distribution of the Oriental Palaeonympha opalina is the result of a northbound dispersal of a lineage from South America into eastern Asia via North America. The common ancestor of Palaeonympha and its sister taxon Megisto inhabited the continuous forest belt across North Asia and North America, which was connected by Beringia. The closure of this connection caused the split between Palaeonympha and Megisto around 13 Ma and the severe extinctions in western North America because of the climatic changes of the Late Miocene (from 13.5 Ma onwards) resulted in the classic ‘eastern Asia and eastern North America’ disjunct distribution.

From the Phylogeny of the Satyrinae Butterflies to the Systematics of Euptychiina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): History, Progress and Prospects

“…The research on Euptychiina has struggled to show the monophyly of the group (Murray & Prowell 2005, Peña et al 2010. Again, it is believed that this is caused by problems of long branch attraction, particularly in Euptychia (Peña et al 2011), which is recognized as the sister group of the remaining members of the subtribe (Peña et al 2006(Peña et al , 2010.…”

“…This clade is recovered in various phylogenetic studies (Peña et al 2006, Peña & Wahlberg 2008, Wahlberg et al 2009 with partially resolved relationships and only supported by molecular characters (Fig 2) [ (Peña et al 2006, Peña & Wahlberg 2008 The lack of resolution in the topology of Satyrini is This phenomenon occurs in most of the subtribes of Satyrini (Peña et al 2011) and has been recently reported in Coenonymphina (Kodandaramaiah et al 2010a), Euptychiina (Peña et al 2010) and Mycalesina (Kodandaramaiah et al 2010b). Peña et al (2011) ind that the initial selection of Haeterini as outgroup for Satyrini produces unstable trees where Euptychia (Euptychiina) appears outside of Satyrini.…”

“…The proposed phylogenies of Murray & Prowell (2005) and Peña et al (2006Peña et al ( , 2010 show that Euptychiina sensu is not a monophyletic taxon. Some genera previously regarded as incertae sedis, such as Amphidecta and Palaeonympha, are now included in Euptychiina, and Oressinoma, a genus traditionally recognized as a member of Euptychiina, is more closely related to Coenonymphina (Peña et al 2006).…”

“…Again, it is believed that this is caused by problems of long branch attraction, particularly in Euptychia (Peña et al 2011), which is recognized as the sister group of the remaining members of the subtribe (Peña et al 2006(Peña et al , 2010. For this genus, it is established that, after diverging from the original lineage, species underwent rapid evolutionary changes, resulting in spurious grouping with other long branches of Satyrini (Peña et al 2011).…”

“…Euptychiina is a very diverse group of Satyrinae, with over 400 recognized species ) in 44 genera (Table 2, Fig 3) (Peña et al 2010). The group is distributed mainly in the Neotropical region, with the presence of some species in the Nearctic region and one in Southeast Asia.…”