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Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.)
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Ryan I. Hill
First Committee Member
Zachary Stahlschmidt
Second Committee Member
Tara Thiemann
Abstract
The tropics are host to incredible insect diversity. One of the most charismatic groups that exhibit this diversity are the butterflies. Despite the tropical butterfly fauna being heavily researched, there remains much hidden diversity in the form of undescribed life histories and cryptic species. This is especially true among the species rich Nymphalidae, the brush-footed butterflies. Species in the genus Adelpha are known to be “the most trying taxonomically of all nymphalids” DeVries (1987), and as such are fruitful ground for uncovering unknown diversity. About half of the species within Adelpha have undescribed life histories, while A. serpa stands out within the genus in having remarkably wide host breadth, and thus potentially harbors cryptic diversity. Here we describe the life histories of two species of Adelpha from Costa Rica, and use an integrative approach to clarify species level boundaries within the Adelpha serpa-group. We conclude that A. serpa does not show significant evidence of harboring cryptic species, and appears to be a geographically widespread species and a hostplant generalist. Three additional species within the serpa-group show strong evidence of harboring cryptic species, and further research should be done to clarify these species relationships.
Pages
96
Recommended Citation
Rush, Cassidi. (2018). Unknown and Cryptic Diversity in the Adelpha serpa-group. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3138
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