Molecular phylogeny of Japanese Catocala moths based on nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial ND5 gene.

Phylogenetic relationships of 31 Japanese Catocala species were analyzed based on the partial nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene (762 bp). When several non-Catocala Noctuidae moths were designated as the outgroup, these Catocala species formed a monophyletic group. However, divergences between these Catocala species were very deep, and no close phylogenetic relationships were recognized among them except for that between the two recently separated species, C. xarippe and C. fulminea. The remote relationships implied for several pairs of species suggest that the color of the hindwings is a changeable characteristic, and does not reflect phylogenetic lineage. Continental specimens were analyzed in 20 of 31 Catocala species, and all of them showed a close relationship with their Japanese counterpart. However, the closeness of the nucleotide sequences between the Japanese and continental individuals of the same species varied from species to species, indicating that isolation between the Japanese and continental populations of these species occurred at many different times. The two analyzed species endemic to North America showed a close relationship with their morphologically inferred Japanese counterparts, indicating that the geographic separation and following speciation between these Eurasian and American species occurred much more recently compared with the speciation events among the Catocala species now found in Japan.

Molecular systematics and evolution of the recently discovered "Parnassian" butterfly (Parnassius davydovi Churkin, 2006) and its allied species (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae).

The nucleotide sequence of 807 bp of the mtDNA-ND5 locus of Parnassius davydovi (Churkin, S. 2006. A new species of Parnassius Latreille, 1804, from Kyrgyzstan (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae). Helios (Moskow) 7,142-158), was determined. This butterfly was unexpectedly discovered recently in Kyrgyzstan, and we wished to shed light on its molecular phylogenetic relationship to other Parnassian butterflies, as well as to the related taxa in the subfamily Parnassiinae of the family Papilionidae. Using the ML method with the GTR+I+Gamma model, we inferred the phylogenetic tree for 60 Parnassius individuals together with materials of the related genera in the subfamily Parnassiinae (Hypermnestra, Archon, Luehdorfia, Bhutanitis, Allancastria, Zerynthia and Sericinus) with Papilio machaon as an out-group. It was found that P. davydovi is a distinct species most closely related to P. loxias in clade VI among the eight clades, or species groups of Parnassius. The morphological diversity in the form of sphragis, the attachment to the female abdomen formed by the male during copulation, is characteristic to this clade, and we inferred the order of emergence of the different sphragis forms during evolution. Attempts to estimate the divergence times between related taxa were also made. It was inferred that the relatively rapid radiation of Parnassian butterflies started at about 24 MYA BP, while P. davydovi diverged from P. loxias at about 10 MYA BP.