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Boloria dia (Linnaeus, 1767)
Clossiana dia (Linnaeus, 1767)
The generic placement of this species is discussed controversially. The
most recent treatment of the phylogeny of Boloria and related
(sub)genera by
Simonsen et al. (2010)
recommends to recognize a large genus Boloria, and to recognize
monophyletic subgroups of Boloria as subgenera. This concept is followed
by almost all authors. I adopt this concept here as well, but I think
the recognition of two separate genera Boloria and Clossiana is also a
viable evolutionary hypothesis that should be seriously considered in
future analyses of the phylogeny and taxonomy of this group of
butterflies for the following reasons:
(1) The analysis by
Simonsen et al. (2010)
shows that Boloria sensu lato is subdivided into two main clades, that
are separated by deep branches. Thus, there are clearly two main
evolutionary lineages, and these correspond to Boloria (sensu
stricto)+Proclossiana, and Clossiana.
(2) These two clades may be regarded as subgenera or genera and this
decision is, of course, subjective. However, the deep split between
these clades should be given some significance when assigning a rank to
the clades and should also be mirrored in the classification. Thus,
genus rank better reflects the deep split between the clades than
subgenus rank.
(3) The same rationale has been followed by
De Moya et al. (2017)
in their analysis of the phylogeny of another fritillary butterfly
group (Argynnis sensu lato). They find similar deep splits between main
clades and recognise these main monophyletic groups as genera not
subgenera.
(4) Finally, the age of the split between the genera Argynnis, Fabriciana and Speyeria as recognised by
De Moya et al. (2017)
is around 8-10 million years. The age of the split between the two
major lineages in Boloria sensu lato is approximately 13 million years
and thus significantly older.
These are arguments for recognizing the two main clades in Boloria sensu
lato as two separate genera, Boloria and Clossiana. Another study by
Yakovlev et al. (2018)
contradicts this notion, because in this study the species that would
be placed in Clossiana did not form a monophyletic clade. The study of
Yakovlev et al. (2018),
however, might suffer from artefacts within the phylogenetic analysis,
because (a) it was based only on short sequence fragments of the COI
gene, (b) did not include species from Boloria sensu stricto, and (c)
chose only a remotely related outgroup (a species of Coenonympha) for
rooting.
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