After 60 years, an answer to the question: what is the Karner blue butterfly?
- 22 December 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by The Royal Society in Biology Letters
- Vol. 7 (3) , 399-402
Abstract
The Karner blue butterfly (KBB),Lycaeides melissa samuelis, is a federally protected taxon whose relationship to the Melissa blue,Lycaeides melissa, has been a point of contention during the 66 years since the KBB was first described. Using a large population-genomic dataset and a model of population divergence with migration, we investigated the relationship between the KBB andL. melissa, as well as the relationship betweenL. melissaand a third taxon,Lycaeides idas. We report that gene flow between the KBB andL. melissais low, and comparable to gene flow betweenL. melissaandL. idas. Considering this population-genetic evidence, we conclude that the KBB is a unique evolutionary lineage that should be recognized asLycaeides samuelis.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Secondary contact between Lycaeides idas and L. melissa in the Rocky Mountains: extensive admixture and a patchy hybrid zoneMolecular Ecology, 2010
- Bayesian analysis of molecular variance in pyrosequences quantifies population genetic structure across the genome of Lycaeides butterfliesMolecular Ecology, 2010
- Patterns of Genitalic Morphology Around Suture Zones in North American Lycaeides (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): Implications for Taxonomy and Historical BiogeographyAnnals of the Entomological Society of America, 2008
- Integration within the Felsenstein equation for improved Markov chain Monte Carlo methods in population geneticsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007
- Identifying units for conservation using molecular systematics: the cautionary tale of the Karner blue butterflyMolecular Ecology, 2006
- The expansion of conservation geneticsNature Reviews Genetics, 2004
- Multilocus Methods for Estimating Population Sizes, Migration Rates and Divergence Time, With Applications to the Divergence of Drosophila pseudoobscura and D. persimilisGenetics, 2004
- Hybridization and adaptive radiationTrends in Ecology & Evolution, 2004
- Population biology of an endangered butterfly, Lycaeides melissa samuelis (Lepidoptera; Lycaenidae): genetic variation, gene flow, and taxonomic statusCanadian Journal of Zoology, 1998
- Population biology of an endangered butterfly, Lycaeides melissa samuelis (Lepidoptera; Lycaenidae): genetic variation, gene flow, and taxonomic statusCanadian Journal of Zoology, 1998