Are the Yellow and Red Marked Club-Tail Losaria coon the Same Species?

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 11; no. 6; p. 392
• Main Authors: Xu, Zhen-Bang, Wang, Yun-Yu, Condamine, Fabien L, Cotton, Adam M, Hu, Shao-Ji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 24-06-2020; MDPI AG
• Subjects: Animal biology; distribution range; genitalic structure; Life Sciences; molecular phylogeny; species delimitation; wing pattern; genitalic structure; species delimitation; distribution range; wing pattern; molecular phylogeny
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects11060392

(Fabricius, 1793) is currently comprised of ten subspecies, which were originally described under two names,
and
before 1909, when they were combined as one species. The main difference between them is the colour of abdomen and hindwing subterminal spots-yellow in
and red in
. Wing morphology, male and female genitalia, and molecular evidence (DNA barcodes) were analysed for multiple subspecies of
and three other
species-
,
, and
. Our molecular data support the separation of
and
as two distinct species, with
positioned between them in phylogenetic analyses. Wing morphology and genitalic structures also confirm the molecular conclusions. Our findings divide
into two species occupying different geographic ranges: with
restricted to southern Sumatra, Java, and Bawean Island, while
occurs widely in regions from North India to northern Sumatra, including Hainan and Nicobar Islands. Hence, future conservation efforts must reassess the status and threat factors of the two species to form updated strategies.