Research Article |
Corresponding author: Antonio S. Ortiz ( aortiz@um.es ) Academic editor: Sven Erlacher
© 2022 Juan J. Guerrero, Axel Hausmann, Rosa M. Rubio, Manuel Garre, Antonio S. Ortiz.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Guerrero JJ, Hausmann A, Rubio RM, Garre M, Ortiz AS (2022) First description of the male and DNA barcode of Euphyia vallantinaria (Oberthür, 1890) from the Iberian Peninsula (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Larentiinae). Nota Lepidopterologica 45: 33-39. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.45.75693
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The male of Euphyia vallantinaria (Oberthür, 1890) has been recorded for the first time from the Iberian Peninsula and its genital morphology has been described and illustrated. DNA barcode data are presented and compared with the other European Euphyia species.
The genus Euphyia Hübner, 1825 is distributed in the Holarctic and Neotropical regions and includes about 170 species (
Euphyia vallantinaria was described initially as Cidaria vallantinaria from Bône in eastern Algeria. Prout (1938) combines this species with his subgenus Euphyia, but places it between the two species basochesiata (Duponchel, 1831) and putridaria (Herrich-Schäffer, 1832) which both belong to genus Catarhoe in current taxonomy. The species was definitely assigned to genus Euphyia by
In the original description of E. vallantinaria, the sex differences among specimens were not indicated.
Previously,
In this article, we provide a description of the male of Euphyia vallantinaria. In addition, DNA barcodes (COI) were used to confirm its occurrence in the southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula and to assess genetic divergence between the Euphyia species.
The specimens were examined externally in order to evaluate possible differences in their colouration and wing shape, and they were dissected using standard procedures (
A. Male specimen of Euphyia vallantinaria with Barcode IBLAO1527-20; B. Male specimen of Euphyia vallantinaria with Barcode IBLAO1528-20; C. Andropygium; D. Aedeagus; E. Sclerotised tergum and sternum A8 detail. Male genitalia of Euphyia biangulata from Spain, Lugo, Robledo, 25.VI.2011: F. Andropygium; G. Aedeagus; H. Sclerotised tergum and sternum A8 detail.
For DNA extraction, two legs were removed from two adult specimens (Table
Sequences were compared with a reference library of Lepidoptera DNA barcodes using the identification engine (BOLD-ID). The reference DNA barcode database for Geometridae used by BOLD-ID is continually validated by specialists to ensure accurate identifications and is particularly well parameterised due to a global campaign to DNA barcode the 24,000 species of the family.
Sequence divergences for the barcode region were calculated using the Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model and the degrees of intra- and interspecific genetic variation were calculated using the analytical tools of BOLD. All the new and related species sequences were downloaded and aligned with the CLUSTAL algorithm of the MEGA6 software (
Cidaria vallantinaria Oberthür, 1890: Études ent. 13: 31, pl. 7, fig. 49 (type locality: eastern Algeria: near Bône).
Syntype by type illustration in
Spain. 1♂, Andalusia, Tarifa, Llanos del Juncal (Cádiz), 770 m, (36.103, -5.541), 04.IX.2019, leg. JM Gaona, coll. RCBA-UMU, Barcode IBLAO1527-20 (Fig.
For comparison six females from El Tarf, Algeria (coll. Herbulot in ZSM), one male and three females from southern Andalusia in ZSM, all DNA barcoded (cf.
Adult (Fig.
Male genitalia
(Fig.
Female genitalia. See
Euphyia vallantinaria is similar to E. biangulata differing in narrower postmedial fascia of forewing with shadows of a dividing line, females with terminal area darker, wavy line conspicuous, hindwing darker with out well-marked white postmedial fascia and a large genetic distance (5.6%) (
Uni- or bivoltine: Scattered European data from early August to mid-September, in North Africa also recorded in April (
Larva unknown.
Silvicolous in mountain areas. Deciduous and mixed forests of different types, forest fringes, scrub and scattered Mediterranean evergreen oak forest from 300 m up to 1,200 m above sea-level.
E. biangulata (allopatric).
West-Mediterranean with populations in the Iberian Peninsula (southern Andalusia) and in North Africa, only recorded from the type locality Annaba (formerly Bône) and El Tarf (coll. Herbulot/ZSM), both in Algeria.
Sequences of DNA barcode region were obtained from two male specimens and registered to Genbank (IBLAO1527-20: OK346332 and IBLAO1528-20: OK346331). No difference was found between the two fragments obtained from the males (658 bp) while a difference of two base pairs (0.3%) was found between male and earlier sequenced female from southern Spain (cf. Hausmann and Viiladepp 2012).
The species has a unique BIN BOLD:AAO2615 (n = 6; sequence length 658 bp in all six specimens). Mean intraspecific variation 0.26%. Maximum intraspecific distance 0.48%. The COI sequences indicated significant divergence with large mean distances to its nearest species in Europe: E. unangulata (n = 20; 4.9%), E. biangulata (n = 17; 5.3%), E. frustata fulvocinctata (n = 4; 5.7%), E. mesembrina (n = 6; 5.9%) and E. adumbraria (n = 12; 6.4%) (Table
Alhough E. vallantinaria (Oberthür, 1890) was described many years ago, the male remained unknown to date. The male characters are described and illustrated here for the first time although the identification of the Andalusian populations needs further comparison through DNA barcoding of North African specimens.
The revision of the descriptions of all Euphyia species revealed similarities among them allowing for further grouping of the species within the genus. Among the six Euphyia species, E. vallantinaria is closely related and similar in female and male genitalia to E. biangulata, differing in narrower postmedial fascia of forewing, terminal area darker, wavy line conspicuous and hindwing darker. E. frustata is similar to E. mesembrina but it presents slightly narrower forewings, ground colour and pattern much paler, without vivid brown and yellow scales, transverse fasciae with dark costal spots while E. adumbraria differs from E. mesembrina in being larger, terminal area not paler in its tornal half, forewing underside with subapical white pattern. On the other hand, E. unangulata has a wing morphology that could be confused with E. biangulata and E. vallantinaria, although it looks much more like Epirrhoe rivata (Hübner, 1813) (
The results of the DNA barcoding data obtained in our study indicate the existence of two well-supported and reciprocally monophyletic groups in Europe (Fig.
Interspecific mean K2P (Kimura 2-Parameter) divergences (mean pairwise distances) based on the analysis of COI fragments (>600 bp) between European Euphyia species.
biangulata | frustata | mesembrina | unangulata | vallantinaria | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
E. adumbraria | 7.4% | 6.2% | 7.1% | 4.9% | 6.4% |
E. biangulata | 5.9% | 6.7% | 5.0% | 5.3% | |
E. frustata | 2.7% | 5.1% | 5.7% | ||
E. mesembrina | 6.1% | 5.9% | |||
E. unangulata | 4.9% |
Thanks are due to José Manuel Gaona for collecting specimens while John Girdley and Claire Ward improved the manuscript linguistically. We are grateful to Paul D.N. Hebert and the entire team at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB, Guelph, Canada) for carrying out the sequence analyses. This study has been supported by the Regional Excellence 19908-GERM-15 project of the Fundación Séneca (Regional Government of Murcia, Spain). Collecting permits were issued by Environmental Authority of Andalucia.