Tribe Pseudalmenini

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Introduction

Eliot (1973) placed the genera Zesius Hübner, [1819], Pseudalmenus H. H. Druce, 1902 and Jalmenus Hübner, 1818 in the tribe Zesiusini Eliot, 1973. However, Espeland et al. (2018) demonstrated that, based on a comprehensive phylogenomic data set (352 genes), the Zesiusini were polyphyletic, with the genera Pseudalmenus and Jalmenus far removed from Zesius. Moreover, Pseudalmenus emerged as a ‘basal’ lineage sister to all other taxa within the Theclinae assemblage. Braby and Eastwood (2019) suggested that Pseudalmenus ought to be placed in a separate tribe. Kawahara et al. (2023) found the same pattern based on their comprehensive global phylogeny of butterflies, with Pseudalmenus and Jalmenus recovered as separate ‘deep’ lineages sister to the remaining Theclinae. Based on a smaller but independent data set, Zhang et al. (2023) also recovered the Zesiusini as polyphyletic. Zhang et al. (2023) proposed the tribe Pseudalmenini Grishin, 2023 (type genus: Pseudalmenus) according to their molecular phylogeny in which Pseudalmenus (type species: Ialmenus myrsilus Westwood, 1851, which is a subspecies of Thecla chlorinda Blanchard, 1848) was not monophyletic with Jalmenus.

General References

Braby, M.F. & Eastwood, R.G. 2019. Revised taxonomic status of Pseudalmenus barringtonensis Waterhouse, 1928 stat. rev. (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): uncovering Australia’s greatest taxonomic fraud. Invertebrate Systematics 33: 530-543 [Date published 31 May 2019]

Eliot, J.N. 1973. The higher classification of the Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera): a tentative arrangement. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) 28(6): 371-505

Espeland, M., Breinholt, J.W., Willmott, K.R., et al. 2018. A comprehensive and dated phylogenomic analysis of butterflies. Current Biology 28: 770–778

Kawahara, A.Y., Storer, C., Carvalho, A.P.S., et al. 2023. A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins. Nature Ecology & Evolution 7: 903–913 [Date published 15 May 2023]

Zhang, J., Cong, Q., Shen, J., Song, L. & Grishin, N.V. 2023. Butterfly classification and species discovery using genomics. The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11: 1-93 [Date published 2 October 2023]

History of changes