Ochlodes santacruza J. Scott, 1981

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2023, Genomic analysis reveals new species and subspecies of butterflies, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11 (6), pp. 1-63 : 45

Ochlodes napa (W. H. Edwards, 1865) and Ochlodes santacruza J. Scott, 1981 are species distinct from Ochlodes sylvanoides (Boisduval, 1852)

Genomic analysis of specimens identified as Ochlodes sylvanoides (Boisduval, 1852) ( type locality in USA: California, Plumas Co.) reveals their partitioning into three prominent clades genetically differentiated at the level typical for distinct species ( Fig. 48 green, red with magenta, and blue). The first clade ( Fig. 48 green) corresponds to populations from the Islands of the California coast: Santa Cruz Island and Santa Catalina Island. The senior name for these populations is Ochlodes sylvanoides santacruza J. Scott, 1981 ( type locality USA: California, Santa Barbara Co., Santa Cruz Island). The second clade ( Fig. 48 red and magenta, two clades in mitochondrial genome tree Fig. 48b, likely due to introgression) includes populations from the eastern part of the range ( Colorado, southeastern Utah, and Arizona) and is currently represented by one name, Ochlodes sylvanoides napa (W. H. Edwards, 1865) populations ( Oregon, mainland California, Nevada) and includes the nominotypical subspecies O. sylvanoides sylvanoides . Fst / Gmin /COI barcode difference among these clades are: 0.43/0.003/2.1% (14 bp) ( O. s. sylvanoides vs. O. s. napa ), 0.33/0.01/1.7% (11 bp) ( O. s. sylvanoides vs. O. s. santacruza ), and 0.54/0.008/2.6% (17 bp) ( O. s. napa vs. O. s. santacruza ). Therefore, we propose that Ochlodes napa (W. H. Edwards, 1865) , stat. rest. and Ochlodes santacruza J. Scott, 1981 , stat. nov. are species distinct from Ochlodes sylvanoides (Boisduval, 1852) and form a new species-subspecies combination: Ochlodes santacruza catalina J. Emmel & T. Emmel, 1998 , comb. nov.