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. 2008 Apr 29;105(17):6350-5.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0712181105. Epub 2008 Apr 24.

DNA barcodes and cryptic species of skipper butterflies in the genus Perichares in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica

John M Burns  1 , Daniel H Janzen, Mehrdad Hajibabaei, Winnie Hallwachs, Paul D N Hebert
Affiliations

DNA barcodes and cryptic species of skipper butterflies in the genus Perichares in Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica

John M Burns et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

DNA barcodes can be used to identify cryptic species of skipper butterflies previously detected by classic taxonomic methods and to provide first clues to the existence of yet other cryptic species. A striking case is the common geographically and ecologically widespread neotropical skipper butterfly Perichares philetes (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae), described in 1775, which barcoding splits into a complex of four species in Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica. Three of the species are new, and all four are described. Caterpillars, pupae, and foodplants offer better distinguishing characters than do adults, whose differences are mostly average, subtle, and blurred by intraspecific variation. The caterpillars of two species are generalist grass-eaters; of the other two, specialist palm-eaters, each of which feeds on different genera. But all of these cryptic species are more specialized in their diet than was the morphospecies that held them. The four ACG taxa discovered to date belong to a panneotropical complex of at least eight species. This complex likely includes still more species, whose exposure may require barcoding. Barcoding ACG hesperiid morphospecies has increased their number by nearly 10%, an unexpectedly high figure for such relatively well known insects.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
NJ tree based on Kimura two-parameter distances for COI DNA barcodes of the six species of Perichares reared in ACG; upper four species (three new) belong to the P. philetes species complex. Numbers indicate how many individuals with each haplotype; colored bars indicate ecosystem occurrence and larval foodplants; red dots indicate the haplotypes of holotypes of the three new species.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Last-instar caterpillar (in anterior and dorsal view of same individual) and pupa [in dorsal, or dorsolateral, view of different individual (except for P. prestoeaphaga)] of the six species of Perichares reared in ACG. Voucher code of each individual in parentheses. (1–3) P. adela (03-SRNP-6347, 06-SRNP-30496). (4–6) P. poaceaphaga (06-SRNP-30259, 06-SRNP-30375). (7–9) P. geonomaphaga (05-SRNP-4067, 00-SRNP-11394). (10–12) P. prestoeaphaga (00-SRNP-11749). (13) P. deceptus (03-SRNP-4930). (14–17) P. lotus [04-SRNP-11636 (including lateral view of head), 04-SRNP-13892].
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Males (columns one and three) and females (columns two and four) of four cryptic species of Perichares in dorsal (left) and ventral (right) view. Voucher code of each specimen in parentheses or brackets. (1–4) P. adela (06-SRNP-45166, 06-SRNP-40498). (5–8) P. poaceaphaga [06-SRNP-1189 (holotype), 03-SRNP-23215]. (9–12) P. geonomaphaga [04-SRNP-2706 (holotype), 04-SRNP-30964]. (13–16) P. prestoeaphaga [01-SRNP-22227 (holotype), 06-SRNP-31113].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Hebert PDN, Cywinska A, Ball SL, deWaard JR. Biological identifications through DNA barcodes. Proc R Soc London Ser B. 2003;270:313–321. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hebert PDN, Penton EH, Burns JM, Janzen DH, Hallwachs W. Ten species in one: DNA barcoding reveals cryptic species in the neotropical skipper butterfly Astraptes fulgerator. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2004;101:14812–14817. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Burns JM, Janzen DH. Pan-neotropical genus Venada (Hesperiidae: Pyrginae) is not monotypic: four new species occur on one volcano in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. J Lepid Soc. 2005;59:19–34.
    1. Hajibabaei M, Janzen DH, Burns JM, Hallwachs W, Hebert PDN. DNA barcodes distinguish species of tropical Lepidoptera. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2006;103:968–971. - PMC - PubMed

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