Evolutionary history of Neotropical butterflies of the infratribe Neosatyriti based on target enrichment (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Satyrinae, Satyrini, Pronophilina)

Pyrcz T.W.; Mahecha-J O.; Lachowska-Cierlik D.; Boyer P.; Lucci Freitas A.V.; Florczyk K.; Fahraeus C.; Cerdeña J.; Núñez-Bustos E.O.; Espeland M. · Invertebrate Systematics (2025) · DOI: 10.1071/is24038

Resumen

The infratribe Neosatyriti is a section of the entirely Neotropical subtribe Pronophilina, accounting for 57 species distributed from southern Patagonia to the Andes of northern Peru, and along the Atlantic coast, with the highest diversity in central Chile. They are found in two main types of habitats, i.e. puna, pampas and subantarctic grasslands, and Valdivian forests and Chilean matorral, from sea level to nearly 5000 m above sea level. We propose a phylogenetic hypothesis of the infratribe based on molecular data obtained by target enrichment (TE) of 621 nuclear loci, totalling 248,373 base pairs, from 53 species of this infratribe and 12 outgroups. Our analysis confirms that Neosatyriti is monophyletic with full support. Based on these results, we propose eight new combinations and two status reinstatements. Molecular data are congruent with morphological characters except for Homoeonympha which appears to be paraphyletic, thus almost all the genera described originally by L. Herrera, K. Hayward and W. Heimlich in the Twentieth century based only on morphological characters are confirmed as valid, except for Haywardella that is synonymised with Pampasatyrus. Neosatyriti diverged from other Pronophilina some 23 Ma and split into two major lineages some 20 Ma. Our reconstructions do not indicate a single area of origin, rather a multisource origin, but they suggest the Neosatyriti originated in the lowlands, and that their ancestral plants were non-bambusoid grasses. Major divergence of the infratribe started some 12-11 Ma when it split into the 'Neomaenas clade' (9 genera), the 'Pampasatyrus clade' (4 genera) and the 'Neosatyrus clade' (5 genera). The next main radiation took place some 7-5 Ma with the switch to bamboo host plants and the colonisation of Valdivian forests. The final dispersal of the tribe was associated with the colonisation of Mata Atlantica some 6-5 Ma, and high Andean puna in Peru in the Early Pleistocene. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:29A961D1-99EF-465C-87E7-FB5B3570E3AE

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa