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Insect taxonomy can be difficult: a noctuid moth (Agaristinae: Aletopus imperialis) and a geometrid moth (Sterrhinae: Cartaletis dargei) combined into a cryptic species complex in eastern Africa (Lepidoptera).
Sihvonen, Pasi; Murillo-Ramos, Leidys; Wahlberg, Niklas; Hausmann, Axel; Zilli, Alberto; Ochse, Michael; Staude, Hermann S.
Afiliação
  • Sihvonen P; Finnish Museum of Natural History "Luomus", University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
  • Murillo-Ramos L; Departamento de Biologia, Universidad de Sucre, Sincelejo, Sucre, Colombia.
  • Wahlberg N; Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
  • Hausmann A; Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
  • Zilli A; SNSB Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Munich, Germany.
  • Ochse M; Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
  • Staude HS; Waldstraße 51, Weisenheim am Berg, Germany.
PeerJ ; 9: e11613, 2021.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34277147
The systematic position of a large and strikingly coloured reddish-black moth, Cartaletis dargei Herbulot, 2003 (Geometridae: Sterrhinae) from Tanzania, has remained questionable since its description. Here we present molecular and morphological evidence showing that Cartaletis dargei only superficially resembles true Cartaletis Warren, 1894 (the relative name currently considered a junior synonym of Aletis Hübner, 1820), which are unpalatable diurnal moths superficially resembling butterflies, and that it is misplaced in the family Geometridae. We transfer it to Noctuidae: Agaristinae, and combine it with the genus Aletopus Jordan, 1926, from Tanzania, as Aletopus dargei (Herbulot, 2003) (new combination). We revise the genus Aletopus to contain three species, but find that it is a cryptic species complex that needs to be revised with more extensive taxon sampling. Our results demonstrate the difficulties in interpreting and classifying biological diversity. We discuss the problems in species delimitation and the potential drivers of evolution in eastern Africa that led to phenotypic similarity in unrelated lepidopteran lineages.
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Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2021 Tipo de documento: Article

Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2021 Tipo de documento: Article