Century-Old DNA Barcodes Reveal Phylogenetic Placement of the Extinct Jamaican Sunset Moth, Urania sloanus Cramer (Lepidoptera: Uraniidae).
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27764148.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0164405 and PMC identifier 5072700.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Analysis of the DNA barcode region of the cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene from a specimen of the extinct Jamaican sunset moth, Urania sloanus, places this species as a sister to the Central American U. fulgens. We found that all Urania F. species were closely related (<2.8% maximum divergence at COI), with the Cuban endemic U. boisduvalii appearing as sister to the rest. The low divergence in DNA barcodes and genitalic structures indicate that the Cuban U. poeyi and eastern Brazilian U. brasiliensis are geographic segregates of U. fulgens and U. leilus respectively, so the former two taxa are accordingly recognized as subspecies.
Medical subject headings
- DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic
- Moths