title: Examining monophyly in a large radiation of Madagascan butterflies (Lepidoptera: Satyrinae: Mycalesina) based on mitochondrial DNA data.
abstract: The satyrine butterfly subtribe Mycalesina has undergone one of the more spectacular evolutionary radiations of butterflies in the Old World tropics. Perhaps the most phenotypically pronounced diversification of the group has occurred in the Malagasy region, where 68 currently recognized species are divided among five genera. Here, we report the results of phylogenetic analyses of sequence data from the cytochrome c oxidase II and cytochrome b mitochondrial genes, for a total of 54 mycalesine taxa, mostly from Madagascar. These molecular data complement an existing data set based on male morphological characters. The molecular results support the suggestion from morphology that three of the five Malagasy genera are paraphyletic and support the monophyly of at least three major morphological clades. Novel hypotheses of terminal taxon pairs are generated by the molecular data. Dense taxon sampling appears to be crucial for elucidating phylogenetic relationships within this large radiation. A potentially complex scenario for the origin of Malagasy mycalesines is proposed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Microbiology, California State University, Los Angeles, California 90032-8201, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Lees
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Vane-Wright
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kremen
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Wayne
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002080:Butterflies / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D003573:Cytochrome b Group / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D008270:Madagascar; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D003573:Cytochrome b Group; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004247:DNA; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV