Elymniini

The Elymniini is one of the tribes of the subfamily Satyrinae. If the subfamily Satyrinae elevate to family status, this tribe shall be treated as subfamily Elymniinae. Elymniini was formerly a large group, but recently, it is considered to be include only one genus, Elymnias, according to molecular phylogenetic analyses.

Elymniini
Elymnias hypermnestra hainana, Taiwan
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Satyrinae
Tribe: Elymniini
Herrich-Schäffer, 1864
Geus[1]
Diversity[1]
only one genus, 52 species

Systematics and taxonomy

The systematics and taxonomy of Satyrinae began to be heavily revised around the 2000s, and this revision continues to this day. Consequently, the subdivisions of this tribe have also undergone significant changes in recent years.

The higher level classification of Satyrine butterfly developed by Miller (1968) became the basis for later taxonomic studies.[2][3] The work which based on adult morphology, recognised seven subfamilies in the family Satyridae: Haeterinae, Brassolinae, Biinae, Elymniinae, Eritinae, Ragadiinae and Satyrinae, and four tribes within Elymniinae: Lethini, Zetherini, Elymniini and Mycalesini.[4] A later work, Harvey (1991), largely followed Miller's classification, but downranked the family Satyridae to the subfamily Satyrinae, with the consequent downranking of the subdivisions : subfamilies to tribes, tribes to subtribes, such as Elymniinae to the tribe Elymniini and Elymniini to the subtribe Elymniiti.[3] In these classifications, Elymniinae/Elymniini was the second largest subgroup of Satyrine butterflies after Satyrinae/Satyrini. However, the morphological key characters that defined this group were not entirely definitive and the phylogenetic relationship of this group with other groups in the family/subfamily was confused.[3][5]

The confusion over the taxonomy and phylogeny of Satyrinae is gradually being resolved by recent developments in molecular phylogenetic studies.[2] Peña et al. (2006) was the first to develop a comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis of Satyrinae since Miller, and showed that most of the families previously recognised were paraphyletic or polyphyletic. In the classification proposed in the work, Elymniini included only genus Elymnias, and the genera formerly included in that tribe, such as Lethe, Pararge and Mycalesis, were transferred to several tribes and subtribes, such as Lethina, Parargina and Mycalesina in Satyrini.[3] Subsequent analyses have largely followed this same classification scheme,[6][7][8] and also, all of the genera included in Elymniini by Miller were synonymized with Elymnias.[1][9] Thus, the tribe Elymniini should include only a single genus Elymnias, according to current phylogenetic understanding.[6]

However, this classification is still new and may not always be used in catalogs, picture books, etc.[5] Moreover, phylogenetic analyses have not yet resolved the problems. For example, some analyses relate Hyantis and Morphopsis to this tribe, but others do not, therefore, it is not clear to which tribe these two genera should be placed in.[6] In addition, several different hypotheses have been proposed for the phylogenetic relationship between the tribe Elymniini and other tribes within Satyrinae,[3][7][10] thus there is no consensus on the phylogenetic position of this tribe in the subfamily.[6]

Lethe anthedon, Virginia, United States
Table for representative higher level classifications of satyrines in Peña et al. (2006)
(excerpts with some modifications[lower-alpha 1])
Miller (1968) Harvey (1991) Peña et al. (2006)
Family Satyridae Subfamily Satyrinae Satyrinae
Subfamily Elymniinae Tribe Elymniini Elymniini
Tribe Elymniini Subtribe Elymniiti
  • Genera
  • Elymnias
  • Elymniopsis
  • Genera
Tribe Lethini Subtribe Lethiti
  • Genera
  • Enodia
  • Lethe
  • Neope
  • Satyrodes
  • Kirinia
  • Lasiommata
  • Lopinga
  • Pararge
  • Ethope
  • Neorina
  • Genera
  • Enodia
  • Lethe
  • Neope
  • Satyrodes
  • Kirinia
  • Lasiommata
  • Lopinga
  • Pararge
  • Ethope
  • Neorina
Tribe Mycalesini Subtribe Mycalesiti
  • Genera
  • Bicyclus
  • Hallelesis
  • Henotesia
  • Mycalesis
  • Orsotriaena
  • Genera
  • Bicyclus
  • Hallelesis
  • Henotesia
  • Mycalesis
  • Orsotriaena
Tribe Zetherini Subtribe Zetheriti
  • Genera
  • Zethera
  • Genera
  • Zethera
Tribe Zetherini
  • Genera
Subfamily Satyrinae Tribe Satyrini Satyrini
Subtribe Parargina
  • Genera
Subtribe Lethina
  • Genera
Subtribe Mycalesina
  • Genera
Tribe Coenonymphini Subtribe Coenonymphiti Coenonymphina
  • Genera
* Not mentioned on this page
  • Genera
* Not mentioned on this page
Tribe Hypocystini Subtribe Hypocystiti
  • Genera
* Not mentioned on this page
  • Genera
* Not mentioned on this page

Notes

  1. Only tribes related to this tribe are extracted and the format of the table are changed. In addition, Lamas (2004) was excluded because it only listed genera distributed in the Neotropics. Moreover, the genera Aeropetes and Paralethe which formerly related to this tribe, are not included here, because they have been re-transferred to another tribe (Dirini) since this study.[11]
  2. Elymniopsis has been synonymized with Elymnias.[9][11]
  3. Orsotriaena have been re-transferred to another subtribe (Eritina) in Satyrini since this study.[12]

References

Citations

Sources

  • Chen, Lu; Wahlberg, Niklas; Liao, Cheng-Qing; Wang, Chen-Bin; Ma, Fang-Zhou; Huang, Guo-Hua (2020). "Fourteen complete mitochondrial genomes of butterflies from the genus Lethe (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) with mitogenome-based phylogenetic analysis". Genomics. 112 (6): 4435–4441. doi:10.1016/j.ygeno.2020.07.042. PMID 32745503. S2CID 220966325.
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