Integrated taxonomy, phylogeography and conservation in the genus Chelis Rambur, [1866] in the Iberian Peninsula (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae).

Abstract

The taxonomy of Chelis, a genus distributed within the Palaearctic region, is revised based on morphological and molecular data (DNA barcodes) in the Iberian Peninsula. The neighbour-joining and maximum likelihood trees, combined with adult male genitalia and morphology, support the existence of three species indicating two major lineages, one corresponding to mountainous taxa (Chelis arragonensis and C. cantabrica), with restricted distribution, and the other represented by Chelis maculosa, a taxon with a broad European distribution and a great number of infraspecific taxa. Haplotypic variation is highly concordant with species taxonomy; the variation at a continental scale reveals a significant geographic pattern of haplogroups: C. arragonensis is restricted to the mountains of Central Spain and C. cantabrica is endemic to the Western Cantabrian Mountains. C. maculosa includes several distinct haplotypes with a marked intraspecific genetic divergence (0.79- 1.83 %) and C. simplonica is endemic to the Alps and presents low interspecific divergence from C. cantabrica (1.5 %), requiring further investigation.