Pyrrhochalcia Mabille, 1904

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2023, Butterfly classification and species discovery using genomics, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11 (3), pp. 1-94 : 49-50

Pyrrhochalcia Mabille, 1904 is a subgenus of Coeliades Hübner, 1818

Although immediately distinguishable by its much larger size, black wings with metallic-green shine (and broad green streaks in females) above, and shiny cyan-green-olive hindwings beneath, Pyrrhochalcia Mabille, 1904 (type and the only species Papilio iphis Drury, 1773 ) was recognized as a close relative of Coeliades Hübner, 1818 (type species Papilio forestan Stoll, 1782 ) by Evans (1937) and placed next to Pyrrhiades Lindsey & Miller, 1965 (type species Papilio lucagus Cramer, 1777 )—currently within the relative positions of vein origins on hindwing.

Moreover, some species of Coeliades are patterned similarly, although without extensive green coloration on ventral hindwing: C. lucagus (Cramer, 1777) and

C. aeschylus (Plötz, 1884) (both formerly in

Pyrrhiades ). Our genomic tree and recently published phylogeny ( Toussaint et al. 2021) support this close relationship between Pyrrhochalcia and Coeliades by placing the former as a close sister of the latter without prominent separation between them (Fig. 25).

Genetic differentiation within Coeliades even after including Pyrrhochalcia is approximately the same as that within the genus Choaspes F. Moore, 1881 (type species Hesperia (Thymele) benjaminii Guérin- Méneville, 1843 ) (Fig. 25 blue vs. green). Therefore, we propose that Pyrrhochalcia Mabille, 1904 , stat. nov. is a subgenus of Coeliades Hübner, 1818 .