Molecular phylogenetic relationship of the subfamily Nymphalinae (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Myanmar, inferred from mitochondrial gene sequences

Abstract

Phylogenetic relationships for 19 species of the subfamily Nymphalinae were inferred using 607 bp of cytochrome oxidase subunit I. The average base composition of cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequences was 37.9% T, 15.7% C, 31.5% A, and 14.9% G, showing a strong AT bias (69.4%). The phylogenetic trees were constructed using the neighbor-joining, maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony methods, and showed almost identical topologies. The results indicated that the tribes Junoniini and Nymphalini are monophyletic groups, but Kallimini is not a monophyletic group. The results of the analysis are approximately consistent with the traditional classification results. This study establishes the cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequence of butterflies from Myanmar for further evolutionary researches.

Keywords

• butterfly
• molecular phylogeny
• Myanmar
• Nymphalinae