Genomic evidence suggests further changes of butterfly names
Further genomic sequencing of butterflies by our research group expandingthe coverage of species and specimens from different localities, coupledwith genome-scale phylogenetic analysis and complemented by phenotypicconsiderations, suggests a number of changes to the names of butterflies,mostly those recorded from the United States and Canada. Here, we presentevidence to support these changes. The changes are intended to makebutterfly classification more internally consistent at the genus, subgenusand species levels. I.e., considering all available evidence, we attemptto assign similar taxonomic ranks to the clades of comparable geneticdivergence, which on average is correlated with the age of phylogeneticgroups estimated from trees. For species, we use criteria devised bygenomic analysis of the genetic divergence across suture zones andcomparison of sympatric populations of closely related species. As aresult, we resurrect 4 genera and 1 subgenus from subgeneric status orsynonymy, change the rank of 8 currently used genera to subgenus,synonymize 7 genus-group names, summarize evidence to support 19 taxa asspecies instead of subspecies and 1 taxon as subspecies instead ofspecies, along with a number of additional changes.