Hesperiidae Part 2 (Guide to the Butterflies of the Palearctic Region) Subfamilies Trapezitinae and Hesperiinae (Partim)

About this book

Hesperiidae part 2, the 28th volume of the series Guide to the Butterflies of the Palearctic Region, follows two years after the first volume of the series on the subject of this peculiar butterfly family. This new book covers the subfamily Trapezitinae, present in the Palearctic region only with two species, and the subfamily Hesperlinae (partim) that, on the contrary, is widely represented in the region.

Initial attempts to reconstruct the phylogeny of the family Hesperiidae based on molecular data in the late 2000s and early 2010s seem to have changed the taxonomic framework of the group drastically: e.g., Pyrrhopyginae was merged into Pyrginae and Megathyminae, or Megathymidae, into Hesperiinae, and Pyrginae was divided into several subfamilies. Current progress on the subject, however, revealed that the classic framework proposed by Brigadier W. H. Evans, at least in the subfamily level, is rather consistent with molecular data as indicated in the text of this volume. On the other hand, in the tribal level (Evans’ genus group), his classification has been reorganised into all the groups. Many molecular-based taxonomic groups have been proposed without morphologically recognisable characters.

Reverse taxonomy, which attempts to find morphological characters of molecularly defined groups, has just started, while molecular phylogenetic works are rapidly and increasingly progressing to cover all the members of the family. The authors expect that readers may well point out the inconsistencies in species boundaries, even within a particular genus. It is mainly due to the difference in the progress of molecular phylogeny.

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