Systematics, ecology, and biogeography of the neotropical butterfly genus Adelpha (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae).

摘要

A revision of the diverse Neotropical nymphalid butterfly genus Adelpha is presented, which includes a review of the systematics, ecology and biogeography of all constituent taxa. I discuss the relationships of the genus to other New and Old World species and genera of the tribe Limenitidini and define the genus based on wing pattern characters. I present a synonymic checklist which includes all 355 available names, and recognize 85 valid species and 207 valid taxa. Seven new subspecies are described, and a further new species and four subspecies are recognized but undescribed due to a lack of material. The status of all names is critically examined, the location of type material is discussed and notes on the identification of all taxa are presented. Lectotypes are designated for 28 names, and neotypes for two names. I summarize information from the literature on hostplants utilized by the genus and the morphology and behavior of the immature stages. Notes are provided on the habitats, phenology, rarity and adult behavior of all taxa based on published data and approximately two years field work in six Neotropical countries. I also list the locality data and collection of 20,648 specimens of Adelpha examined and discuss the known and expected geographic and altitudinal ranges of all taxa.; A phylogeny for all species within the genus is presented based on wing pattern and adult morphological characters of both sexes. While there are several well defined clades, the phylogeny lacks high resolution and strong support for nodes throughout due to a pervasive lack of morphological characters. Nevertheless, there is much evidence that adult characters do support phylogenetic groups similar to those derived from analysis of characters from early stages. I discuss in particular the problems of homology assessment of wing pattern characters which have led to past taxonomic confusion. Dorsal wing patterns show abundant evidence of convergence among sympatric taxa, and I discuss the evidence for mimicry within Adelpha.