Niche modelling and comparative morphology untangle taxonomy of the Dysschema eurocilia clade (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) and reveal a relictual Pleistocene Arc distribution

Abstract

Dysschema is the largest genus in Pericopina, with 69 species. The highly polymorphic species D. eurocilia (Cramer, 1777) was recently united in a clade with three other species: D. aorsa (Boisduval, 1870) stat. rev., D. bivittata (Walker, 1854) stat. rev. and D. molesta (Hering, 1925) stat. rev. Typological taxonomic treatment and lack of understanding of geographic distributions contributed to a proliferation of publications and disputed validity of names. We analysed the genital morphology and wing patterns for the four putative species in the ‘D. eurocilia clade’ and estimated the ecological niche using Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM) to clarify taxonomic scenarios, delimit species and infer speciation mechanisms. We also used ENM to understand the distributions of phenotypes of D. eurocilia. The morphological data and ENM suggested an alternative hypothesis to previous taxonomic works on species within the ‘D. eurocilia clade’. The ENM also revealed distribution patterns supporting the northern Andes as a geographic barrier between Central and South America, while the interconnected Andean valleys might represent areas of sympatry. Additionally, the predicted distribution showed that certain phenotypes in D. eurocilia have distribution through the South American diagonal of open formations, which might represent a relictual distribution known as the Pleistocene Arc.

Key words:

• Lepidoptera
• morphology
• neotropical
• Pleistocene Arc
• polymorphism
• species distribution

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) for a scholarship awarded to SSM (grants 2009/11161–0, 2012/18311–0, 2015/17047–5, 2016/20196–5) and PEG (grant 2018/19171-3). AVLF acknowledges FAPESP (grants 2011/50225-3 and 2021/03868-8) and the Brazilian Research Council – CNPq (304291/2020-0). MD and JPS are grateful to FAPESP (grants 2002/13898-0 and 2016/50384-8), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (PROTAX II – grant 440597/2015-3), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (grants 305905/2012-0, 311083/2015-3, 312190/2018-2 and 150178/2019-0), and Universidade de São Paulo (Projeto 1, Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa). Our gratitude to Janet Reid, Tatiana de Souza Moraes, and Junia Carrera Yasmin for revising and editing the manuscript. We are greatly indebted to all curators for permission to make use of the collections in their charge. This work is dedicated to Patrick G. Haynes (in memoriam).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Associate Editor: Dr Andrew V. Z. Brower