Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis Of Papilionoidea Based On 16S RDNA, Cyt B And COI Sequence

The butterfly Papilionoidea is one of members of Ditrysia (Insecta: Lepid(optera). It is highly successful in research because butterflies of the superfamily are nearly cosmopolitan in distribution and are beautiful. The classification of Papilionoidea has been a controversial issue for a long time and is a research hotspot of Chinese scholars. On the taxonomic position of the family Nymphalidae, approbatory Nymphalidae by foreign scholars includes the families Satyridae, Amathusiidae and Acraeidae and so on according to Chinese scholars. The monophyly of the Parnassiinae is disputable too. Modern molecular technology provides us new approach for studying systematics of butterflies. Based on it, we can clarity the evolutionary status of some taxa of butterflies, confirm the status of some controversial species and phylogeography of some related species. It is becoming a trend that organism phylogenetic analyses are based on combination of mitochondrial genes and nuclear genes, and it can provide us some molecular evidence to resolve the classification of butterflies. According to Chinese scholars, there are 11 families in China. This taxonomic system is very different from the one used widespreadly by foreign scholars. In order to provide enough proofs for improving system of Papilionoidea, molecular markers are employed in this study to reconstruct the phylogeny of papilionoidea.We use Notocrypta curvifascia and Parnara guttata as outgroup species to construct phylogenetic trees. The NJ, MP and ML trees show that species in the Papilionoidea formed a different clade from those of the Hesperoidea. In-groups form 3 lineages: Riodinidae, Pieridae and Lycaenidae. The traditional nymphalid subfamilies Nymphalinae, Libytheinae, Satyrinae, Morphinae, and Heliconiinae and those of Papilioninae and Pamassiinae formed two mixed clusters. These phylogenetic trees do not support that the Nymphalidae and Papilionoidae is a monophyletic group respectively. Based on some morphological characters (i.e. closed hindwing discoidal cell and hindwing ocelli) together with the phylogenetic...