Discovering cryptic species in well-studied areas and taxonomic groups can have profound implications in understanding eco-evolutionary processes and in nature conservation because such groups often involve research models and act as flagship taxa for nature management. In this study, we use an array of techniques to study the butterflies in the Spialia sertorius species group (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae). The integration of genetic, chemical, cytogenetic, morphological, ecological and microbiological data indicates that the sertorius species complex includes at least five species that differentiated during the last three million years. As a result, we propose the restitution of the species status for two taxa often treated as subspecies, Spialia ali (Oberthür, 1881) stat. rest. and Spialia therapne (Rambur, 1832) stat. rest., and describe a new cryptic species Spialia rosae Hernández-Roldán, Dapporto, Dincă, Vicente & Vila sp. nov. Spialia sertorius (Hoffmannsegg, 1804) and S. rosae are sympatric and synmorphic, but show constant differences in mitochondrial DNA, chemical profiles and ecology, suggesting that S. rosae represents a case of ecological speciation involving larval host plant and altitudinal shift, and apparently associated with Wolbachia infection. This study exemplifies how a multidisciplinary approach can reveal elusive cases of hidden diversity.

Biodiversity Institute of Ontario University of Guelph Guelph Ontario Canada N1G 2W1

C Witerico 9A Bajo B E 28025 Madrid Spain

Departamento de Biología Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid C Darwin 2 E 28049 Madrid Spain

Department of Biology University of Florence Via Madonna del Piano 6 50019 Sesto Fiorentino FI Italy

Department of Entomology St Petersburg State University Universitetskaya nab 7 9 199034 St Petersburg Russia

Department of Karyosystematics Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences Universitetskaya nab 1 199034 St Petersburg Russia

Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University Cambridge MA 02138 USA

Department of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge CB2 3EJ UK

Institut de Biologia Evolutiva Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37 E 08003 Barcelona Spain

Institute of Entomology Biology Centre ASCR 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

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