Abstract
Oeneis tanana A. Warren & Nakahara is described from the Tanana River Basin in southeastern Alaska, USA. This new taxon belongs to the bore group of Oeneis Hübner, [1819] and is apparently closest to O. chryxus (E. Doubleday, [1849]) by morphology, including its larger size and similarity of the female genitalia. In wing patterns and COI mitochondrial DNA barcode sequences, it is reminiscent of O. bore (Esper, 1789). A review of O. chryxus subspecies suggest that some may be better treated as species-level taxa. Evolutionary scenarios within the chryxus complex of taxa are discussed. While we hypothesize that O. tanana is best considered a species-level taxon, we have not identified any single character that unambiguously separates it from O. chryxus. Further study is needed to elucidate the species- or subspecies-level status of O. tanana, and to determine if it may have evolved through hybridization between O. chryxus and O. bore.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-20 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera |
Volume | 49 |
Issue number | 1 |
State | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- Beringia
- Butterflies
- Cryptic species
- Hybrid species
- Nearctic
- Speciation
- Taxonomy
- Yukon territory
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Insect Science