Parnassius phoebus is a highly variable species with complex geographic variability distributed across Holarctic from Europe to western North America. Numerous subspecies were described from the species range and some of them are now treated as independent species. We used molecular sequence data to provide justification that Parnassius phoebus and P. smintheus are heterospecific or to prove the latter is only a subspecies of P. phoebus. Based on preliminary results P. phoebus and P. smintheus demonstrate approximately 2 % sequence divergence in mtDNA gene cytochrome oxidase I. Larger scale phylogeography will be surveyed using molecular data with the attempt to evaluate subspecific classification of species complex in North America.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Papilionidae Parnassius phoebus (Phoebus parnassian)
Species 2: Lepidoptera Papilionidae Parnassius smintheus (Smintheus Parnassian)
Keywords: cytochrome oxidase, molecular systematics
Back to Ten-Minute Papers, Section A. Speciation, Phylogeography and Conservation
Back to Ten-Minute Papers, Section A. Systematics, Morphology, and Evolution
Back to The 2002 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition