For a small percentage of Italian butterflies a good sampling for barcoding already exists. Once a study is published, even the sequences used are made available freely on internet. Below we list some examples of how barcoding can help to understand the history of Italian butterflies and to secure their future.

 

Thanks to barcoding, a beautiful new species was added to the Italian fauna. It is Zerynthia cassandra, until recently not distinguishable by Zerynthia polyxena. Here is a brief history of the discovery.

By comparing the shape of the genitalia, we found that Zerynthia polyxena had two morphotypes: a widespread morphotype within the distribution area of this species (dots blacks), and a typical morphotype from central-southern Italy (white dots). Both types are present in a number of individuals collected on Mount Beigua (arrow). Only morphological analysis was insufficient to show that the Italian Zerynthia was a different species endemic to our country.

 

The analysis of gene barcoding has clarified the genetic structure of Zerynthia showing a tree with two distinct branches corresponding to two morphotypes . A more detailed analysis of the individuals showed a perfect relationship between morphological and genetic type. Zerynthia cassandra , therefore, was considered as separate species, endemic to Italy and well isolated from Zerynthia polyxena. The barcoding, however, revealed something more. The populations of the Island of Elba are different from those of Tuscany and more similar to the southern populations (especially those from Sicily). Based on these data it has been suggested by other authors (Bollino and Racheli, 2012) that the populations of Elba and Sicily represent two subspecies of Zerynthia cassandra. These results confirm that the analysis of the genetic richness can lead to the discovery of new species and to understand which populations need to be preserved.

 

Bollino M, Racheli T (2012) Butterflies of the world, supplement 20, Parnassinae (partim), Parnassiini (partim), Luehdorfiini, Zerynthiini. Keltern: Goecke & Hevers

 

Dapporto L. 2010 Speciation in Mediterranean refugia and post-glacial expansion of Zerynthia polyxena (Lepidotera, Papilionidae). J Zool Syst Evol Res 48: 229-237

 

Zinetti F, Dapporto L., Vovlas A., Chelazzi G., Bonelli S. Balletto E., Ciofi C. 2013 When the rule becomes the exception. No evidence of gene flow between two Zerynthia cryptic butterflies suggests the emergence of a new model group. PLOS ONE 8, 6.