Dataset Information

Density and Habitat Relationships of the Endemic White Mountain Fritillary (Boloria chariclea montinus) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).

ABSTRACT: We conducted point counts in the alpine zone of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, USA, to estimate the distribution and density of the rare endemic White Mountain Fritillary (Boloria chariclea montinus). Incidence of occurrence and density of the endemic White Mountain Fritillary during surveys in 2012 and 2013 were greatest in the herbaceous-snowbank plant community. Densities at points in the heath-shrub-rush plant community were lower, but because this plant community is more widespread in the alpine zone, it likely supports the bulk of adult fritillaries. White Mountain Fritillary used cushion-tussock, the other alpine plant community suspected of providing habitat, only sparingly. Detectability of White Mountain Fritillaries varied as a consequence of weather conditions during the survey and among observers, suggesting that raw counts yield biased estimates of density and abundance. Point counts, commonly used to study and monitor populations of birds, were an effective means of sampling White Mountain Fritillary in the alpine environment where patches of habitat are small, irregularly shaped, and widely spaced, rendering line-transect methods inefficient and difficult to implement.

SUBMITTER: McFarland KP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5492071 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Density and Habitat Relationships of the Endemic White Mountain Fritillary (Boloria chariclea montinus) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).

McFarland Kent P KP Lloyd John D JD Hardy Spencer P SP

Insects 20170604 2

We conducted point counts in the alpine zone of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, USA, to estimate the distribution and density of the rare endemic White Mountain Fritillary (<i>Boloria chariclea montinus</i>). Incidence of occurrence and density of the endemic White Mountain Fritillary during surveys in 2012 and 2013 were greatest in the herbaceous-snowbank plant community. Densities at points in the heath-shrub-rush plant community were lower, but because this plant ...[more]

PMID: 28587223

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Project description:BackgroundMitogenomic phylogenies have revealed well-supported relationships for many eukaryote groups. In the order Lepidoptera, 113 species mitogenomes had been sequenced (May 14, 2014). However, these data are restricted to ten of the forty-three recognised superfamilies, while it has been challenging to recover large numbers of mitogenomes due to the time and cost required for primer design and sequencing. Nuclear rather than mitochondrial genes have been preferred to reconstruct deep-level lepidopteran phylogenies, without seriously evaluating the potential of entire mitogenomes. Next-generation sequencing methods remove these limitations by providing efficiently massive amounts of sequence data. In the present study, we simultaneously obtained a large number of nymphalid butterfly mitogenomes to evaluate the utility of mitogenomic phylogenies by comparing reconstructions to the now quite well established phylogeny of Nymphalidae.ResultsWe newly obtained 30 nymphalid mitogenomes via pyrosequencing on the Roche 454 GS Junior system, and combined these sequences with publicly accessible data to provide a 70-taxa dataset covering 37 genes for a 15,495 bp alignment. Polymorphic sites were not homogeneously distributed across the gene. Two gene regions, nad6 and 3' end of nad5, were most variable, whereas the cox1 and 5' ends of rrnL were most conserved. Phylogenetic relationships inferred by two likelihood methods were congruent and strongly supported (>0.95 posterior probability; ML bootstrap >85%), across the majority of nodes for multiple partitioning strategies and substitution models. Bayes factor results showed that the most highly partitioned dataset is the preferred strategy among different partitioning schemes. The most striking phylogenetic findings were that the subfamily Danainae not Libytheinae was sister of the remaining brush-footed butterflies and that, within Limenitidini, the genus Athyma was clearly polyphyletic. None of the single-gene phylogenies recovered the highly supported topologies generated on the basis of the whole mitogenomic data.ConclusionsThirty mitogenomes were assembled with 89% completeness from the contigs of pyrosequencing-derived reads. Entire mitogenomes or higher-quality sequences could be obtained by increasing pyrosequencing read coverage or by additional Sanger sequencing. Our mitogenomic phylogenies provide robust nodal support at a range of levels, demonstrating that mitogenomes are both accurate and efficient molecular markers for inferring butterfly phylogeny.

Project description:The genus Calisto Hübner, 1823 is the only member of the diverse, global subfamily Satyrinae found in the West Indies, and by far the richest endemic Caribbean butterfly radiation. Calisto species occupy an extremely diverse array of habitats, suggestive of adaptive radiation on the scale of other classic examples such as the Galápagos or Darwin's finches. However, a reliable species classification is a key requisite before further evolutionary or ecological research. An analysis of 111 DNA 'barcodes' (655 bp of the mitochondrial gene COI) from 29 putative Calisto species represented by 31 putative taxa was therefore conducted to elucidate taxonomic relationships among these often highly cryptic and confusing taxa. The sympatric, morphologically and ecologically similar taxa Calisto confusa Lathy, 1899 and Calisto confusa debarriera Clench, 1943 proved to be extremely divergent, and we therefore recognize Calisto debarriera stat. n. as a distinct species, with Calisto neiba Schwartz & Gali, 1984 as a junior synonym syn. n. Species status of certain allopatric, morphologically similar sister species has been confirmed: Calisto hysius (Godart, 1824) (including its subspecies Calisto hysius aleucosticha Correa et Schwartz, 1986, stat. n.), and its former subspecies Calisto batesi Michener, 1943 showed a high degree of divergence (above 6%) and should be considered separate species. Calisto lyceius Bates, 1935/Calisto crypta Gali, 1985/Calisto franciscoi Gali, 1985 complex, also showed a high degree of divergence (above 6%), confirming the species status of these taxa. In contrast, our data suggest that the Calisto grannus Bates, 1939 species complex (including Calisto grannus dilemma González, 1987, Calisto grannus amazona González, 1987, stat. n., Calisto grannus micrommata Schwartz & Gali, 1984, stat. n., Calisto grannus dystacta González, 1987, stat. n., Calisto grannus phoinix González, 1987, stat. n., Calisto grannus sommeri Schwartz & Gali, 1984, stat. n., and Calisto grannus micheneri Clench, 1944, stat. n.) should be treated as a single polytypic species, as genetic divergence among sampled populations representing these taxa is low (and stable morphological apomorphies are absent). A widely-distributed pest of sugar cane, Calisto pulchella Lathy, 1899 showed higher diversification among isolated populations (3.5%) than expected, hence supporting former separation of this species into two taxa (pulchella and darlingtoni Clench, 1943), of which the latter might prove to be a separate species rather than subspecies. The taxonomic revisions presented here result in Calisto now containing 34 species and 17 subspecies. Three species endemic to islands other than Hispaniola appear to be derived lineages of various Hispaniolan clades, indicating ancient dispersal events from Hispaniola to Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica. Overall, the degree of intrageneric and intraspecific divergence within Calisto suggests a long and continuous diversification period of 4-8 Myr. The maximum divergence within the genus (ca. 13.3%) is almost equivalent to the maximum divergence of Calisto from the distant pronophiline relative Auca Hayward, 1953 from the southern Andes (14.1%) and from the presumed closest relative Eretris Thieme, 1905 (14.4%), suggesting that the genus began to diversify soon after its split from its continental sister taxon. In general, this 'barcode' divergence corresponds to the high degree of morphological and ecological variation found among major lineages within the genus.

Dataset Information

Density and Habitat Relationships of the Endemic White Mountain Fritillary (Boloria chariclea montinus) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).

Publications

Density and Habitat Relationships of the Endemic White Mountain Fritillary (Boloria chariclea montinus) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).

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