Saturnus tiberius (Möschler, 1883)

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian & Grishin, Nick V., 2023, Supplementary Materials and Appendix, Insecta Mundi 2023 (26), pp. 1-115 : 64

Saturnus tiberius (Möschler, 1883) (with Phlebodes tiberius form suffuscus Hayward, 1940 as its subspecies), Saturnus meton (Mabille, 1891) , Saturnus conspicuus (E. Bell, 1941) , and Saturnus obscurus (E. Bell, 1941) are species distinct from Saturnus reticulata ( Plötz, 1883)

Genomic sequencing taxa currently treated as subspecies of Saturnus reticulata ( Plötz, 1883) (type locality in Venezuela and Panama, syntype sequenced as NVG-18043D11), namely: Apaustus tiberius Möschler, 1883 (type locality in Suriname, holotype sequenced as NVG-15035F10), Phamphila [sic] meton Mabille, 1891 (type locality in Brazil: Amazonas, syntype sequenced as NVG-15035F11), Phlebodes tiberius form suffuscus Hayward, 1940 (type locality in Ecuador), Phlebodes tiberius race obscurus Bell, 1941 (type locality Panama: Chiriquí, holotype sequenced as NVG-18026E04), Phlebodes tiberius race conspicuus Bell, 1941 (type locality in Brazil: Santa Catarina , holotype sequenced as NVG-18025G02) reveals that all but P.t. suffuscus are genetically differentiated from each other in the Z chromosome at the level characteristic of species ( Fig. 6), and the latter taxon is closely related to A. tiberius . Curiously, the mitochondrial genome ( Fig. 6b) does not follow the evolutionary path of the nuclear genome ( Fig. 6a), likely due to gene exchange and introgression. Therefore, the COI barcodes of some of these taxa do not differ, while others ( Saturnus reticulata ) are not monophyletic in mitogenomes. The southernmost P.t. conspicuus exhibits the largest divergence in COI barcodes: 5.5% (36 bp) (likely due to more restricted gene exchange with other taxa, mitochondrial genome remained unaffected), while not being the most divergent taxon in the nuclear genome ( Fig. 6a). This example illustrates that it is not always possible to rely on mitochondrial DNA in general and on COI barcodes in particular in taxonomic and phylogenetic studies. As suggested by nuclear genome analysis and supported by phenotypic differences, we reinstate the following taxa as species: Saturnus tiberius (Möschler, 1883) and Saturnus meton (Mabille, 1891) , and propose a new status of species for Saturnus conspicuus (E. Bell, 1941) , and Saturnus obscurus (E. Bell, 1941) . We leave one taxon as a subspecies but reinstate its original species-subspecies combination: Saturnus tiberius suffuscus (Hayward, 1940) . As a result, S. reticulata becomes monotypic.