Bhutanitis

Abstract: The phylogenetic relationships among 4 Bhutanitis species from China were analyzed based on partial COⅠ gene sequence (about 636 bp). There were 59 variable sites and 47 parsimony-informative sites in the 636 nucleotides of the data, Bhutanitis exhibits a 70.3% A+ T bias. Molecular phylogenetic trees were reconstructed using Neighbor-joining method (NJ), Maximum Parsimony (MP) method and Maximum Likelihood (ML) method. The molecular phylogenetic trees showed that mansfieldi group plus Bh. lidderdalii is the sister group of Bh. thaidina. On the other hand, there was no sequence divergence between COⅠ gene sequence of Bh. mansfieldi and Bh. Pulchristata. Partial COⅡ gene sequences from the 3 individuals of the 2 species were also sequenced and analyzed, there was no sequence divergence either. The results indicated that Bh. pulchristata should be treated as a synonym of Bh. mansfieldi. The results also showed that the mtDNA divergence of Bh. thaidin.was lower.

Abstract: Partial sequences of COⅠgenes of 25 species and Cyt b genes of 20 species in six genera of Papilionoidea were sequenced and analyzed for exploring their phylogenetic relationships. Adoxophyes honmai was used as outgroup to reconstruct the phylogenetic trees of six genera with neighbor-joining (NJ), maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. The results indicated that COⅠ genes are 661 bp in length by alignment, including 417 conserved, 244 variable and 191 parsimonious-informative sites, and the average percentage of A+T is 70.3%, much higher than that of C+G (29.6%). The Cytb genes are 433 bp in length by alignment, including 239 conserved, 194 variable and 135 parsimonious-informative sites; and the average percentage of A+T is 74.2%, much higher than that of C+G (25.7%). The molecular phylogenetic trees showed that the genera Papilio, Chilasa, Bhutanitis, Pachliopta and Teinopalpus are all monophyletic clades and separated from each other in the molecular phylogenetic trees. The results correspond with the classification based on traditional morphological characters. However, the monophyletic position of the genus Graphium is not certain and needs further study. The results accumulated data for the molecular systematic study of the family Papilionidae in China.