Catasticta Butler, 1870

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Opler, Paul A. & Grishin, Nick V., 2021, Genomics-guided refinement of butterfly taxonomy, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 9 (3), pp. 1-55 : 11

Catasticta Butler, 1870 is a junior subjective synonym of Archonias Hübner, 1827

Catasticta Butler, 1870 (type species Euterpe nimbice Boisduval, 1836 ) clusters closely with Archonias Hübner, [1829] (type species Archonias marcias Hübner, 1825 which is currently treated as a subspecies of Papilio brassolis Fabricius, 1777 from Brazil: Bahia) in the genomic tree (Fig. 12). Genetic diversification between these genera is within the norm for most Pieridae genera, e.g., Mylothris shown in the same tree. Moreover, previously published phylogenetic trees reveal that Catasticta is not monophyletic ( Padrón 2014; Wahlberg et al. 2014), although sometimes with low support. Furthermore, Padrón (2014) discussed this issue at length and suggested synonymy between Catasticta and Archonias . We agree with these conclusions, also supported by our genome-scale results. Although further studies are required to develop a meaningful classification within this very large genus, three independent studies provide phylogenetic data suggesting that Catasticta Butler, 1870 is a junior subjective synonym of Archonias Hübner, 1827 . This name change may not be welcomed by those used to the name Catasticta , but it will be necessary to accept at one point. While some may consider breaking this large genus into several genera, the genomic tree indicates that other relatives of Catasticta , such as Charonias Röber, 1908 (type species Euterpe eurytele Hewitson, 1853 ), Neophasia Behr, 1869 (type species Pieris menapia C. & R. Felder, 1859), and Eucheira Westwood, 1834 (type and the only species Eucheira socialis Westwood, 1834 ) are all closely allied to each other and may be treated as subgenera of Archonias , along with some others currently placed in Catasticta . However, details of such classification will be revealed after genomic-scale sequencing of all major species groups in this complex is completed.