Scantilla, Zhang & Cong & Shen & Song & Grishin, 2023

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2023, Genomics-based taxonomic rearrangement of Achlyodini and Carcharodini (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Pyrginae), Insecta Mundi 2023 (16), pp. 1-33 : 28

Scantilla Godman and Salvin, 1896 is a subgenus of Staphylus Godman and Salvin, 1896

The nuclear genomic tree reveals that Staphylus Godman and Salvin, 1896 (type species Helias ascalaphus Staudinger, 1876 ) splits into five clades at the subgenus level ( Fig. 5 ). The subgenus Hesperopsis Dyar, 1905 (type species Thanaos alpheus W. H. Edwards, 1876 ) is sister to all others. The next prominent clade is sister to the clade with the type species of Staphylus and contains the type species of the available genus-group name Scantilla Godman and Salvin, 1896 , Scantilla opites Godman and Salvin, 1896 . Therefore, this clade corresponds to the subgenus Scantilla , new status, resurrected from synonymy. In addition to the type species, the following species belong to this subgenus: Pholisora cartagoa R. Williams & E. Bell, 1940 , Tagiades vincula Plötz, 1886 , Pholisora ceos W. H. Edwards, 1882 , and Staphylus ecos Grishin, 2022. Curiously, the two subgenera ( Hesperopsis and Scantilla ) are characterized by a slower substitution rate than others: tree distance from the last common ancestor of Staphylus to the leaves is smaller for species in these two subgenera than for others.

Figures

Figure 5. The nuclear genome-based phylogeny of Carcharodini, middle segment (continues in 6, see Fig. 4 for the first segment) showing Pholisorina subtrib. n. Species formerly placed in Staphylus are labeled in red. Asterisk marks a species with a dedicated study (Lemes et al. 2023) that already assigned it to Bolla. See Fig. 1 for notations.