Disentangling the Taxonomy of Parides burchellanus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) and Related Taxa.

Abstract

With eight described taxa, the "panthonus clade" of Parides Hübner, [1819] has been the subject of several recent taxonomic rearrangements, including the number of species that compose this clade. Based on new molecular data, including sequences of the nominate subspecies of the two putative species of this group, namely Parides burchellanus (Westwood, 1872) and P. panthonus panthonus (Cramer, 1780), a new phylogenetic hypothesis is presented for this clade. The obtained phylogeny recovered the "panthonus clade" as monophyletic and divided into two main sub-clades. Based on this tree and genetic distances, the "panthonus clade" comprises two species: (1) P. burchellanus, which has no recognized subspecies, and (2) P. panthonus (Cramer, 1780), with seven described subspecies. The present study has contributed significantly towards clarifying the systematics of the "panthonus clade," an important first step towards future studies of the ecology, biogeography, and species conservation within this clade.