Next generation sequencing-aided comprehensive geographic coverage sheds light on the status of rare and extinct populations of Aporia butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

Abstract

The Black-veined White Aporia crataegi (Linnaeus, 1758), a common and widespread butterfly ranging from northwestern Africa to Europe and Asia, has been extinct in Britain since the 1920s and is on a steady decline in several other parts of its range. In order to investigate genetic diversity within A. crataegi and its correspondence with current subspecies-level taxonomy, we barcoded 173 specimens from across its range including, for the first time, extinct populations from Britain and Korea. Using next generation sequencing we also obtained a sequence for Aporia joubini, a peculiar taxon from China known only by its type specimen collected in the early twentieth century. Our phylogenetic analysis placed A. joubini sister to A. oberthuri, although further taxon sampling may reveal a different scheme. Within A. crataegi, we observed a shallow and weak mitogenomic structure with only a few distinct lineages in North Africa, Sicily, Iran, and Japan. Eurasian populations, including those extinct in Britain and Korea, clustered into a large set of closely allied lineages, consistent with a recent expansion during the Late Pleistocene glacial period. This study highlights the importance of museum collections and the unique opportunities they provide in documenting species diversity and helping conservation efforts.