Philotiella Mattoni, [1978]

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Opler, Paul A. & Grishin, Nick V., 2019, Changes to North American butterfly names, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 8 (2), pp. 1-12 : 4

Philotiella Mattoni, [1978] is a subgenus of Euphilotes Mattoni, [1978]

Philotiella Mattoni, [1978] (type species Lycaena speciosa Hy. Edwards, 1877 ) is phylogenetically close to Euphilotes Mattoni, [1978] (type species Lycaena enoptes Boisduval, 1852 ) (COI barcodes differ by only 3.3%) and does not prominently stand out from it in the tree ( Fig. 3 ). Therefore Philotiella is better treated as a subgenus, new status. Euphilotes is a genus distinct from Philotes Scudder, 1876 (type species Lycaena regia Boisduval, 1869, a junior subjective synonym of Lycaena sonorensis C. Felder & R. Felder, 1865 ), because they are not monophyletic. Philotes is sister to Glaucopsyche Scudder, 1872 (type species Polyommatus lygdamus E. Doubleday, 1841 ) ( Fig. 3 ). However, these three genera are close to each other and, if one prefers, can be combined under Glaucopsyche . The tight cluster of species comprising Euphilotes , ( Fig. 3 ) contrasts with the two rather distant species of Glaucopsyche and the monotypic Philotes at about the same distance from them. Apparently, not all genera form prominent assemblages of species, and some genera may not be that distinct from each other, like Glaucopsyche and Philotes .

Figures

Fig. 3. Euphilotes, Philotiella, and Philotes.