A distribution study on the subtribe
Euptychiina
The main goal of this project is to produce distribution maps for each euptychiine species using museum and other data sources, and to further use those maps to answer questions about euptychiine evolution.
Background
Euptychiina, a subtribe of satyrines in the family Nymphalidae, has over 400 described species and is estimated to contain over 500. These butterflies are diverse and widespread across the Neotropics, present in both forest and grassland habitats, and their biogeography might therefore show general patterns of evolution that could apply to other Neotropical groups. However, relatively few studies have been conducted on their origins and distribution. Many broad-scale ecological hypotheses of insects- and, by extension, euptychiines- remain untested, largely due to incomplete or very coarse spatial distribution knowledge (Ballesteros‐Mejia et al., 2016). This project will tackle this information deficit by compiling distribution data to create individual range maps for all euptychiine species, providing a valuable resource for studies of Neotropical biogeography, and apply them to investigate the evolution of euptychiines.
Methods
The first step in this project is to compile existing data from collections at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Although many specimens have been digitized, to use the information requires georeferencing localities: finding the geographical coordinates at which specimens were collected. My first goal is to prioritize georeferencing localities for species with few existing georeferenced localities (less than 10-20 localities). I have been working on this aspect of the project for the last few months, using locality descriptions with other recorded information (such as elevation, nearby towns, or landmarks), and searching for localities online and finally through Google Earth to identify the collection site and record the likely coordinates, within a margin of error.
I’ve already completed georeferencing localities for species with fewer than 10 records, and have completed localities for species with fewer than 20 records. During the University Scholars Program, I will work within the program iNaturalist to identify species from priority genera with limited records, using prepared identification guides to species provided by my mentor Keith Willmott. After final verification of identifications, we will download the resulting data, including locality coordinates. I’ve already begun identifying some priority species in iNaturalist. Once we have a complete point locality dataset, the next steps of the project will include checking for georeferencing errors by mapping points and extracting elevation data from GIS layers by point and species to search for outliers. Next, I will create and edit buffers around data points using QGIS, and then finally model species distributions based climate, using scripts in R developed for modeling Neotropical butterflies by Willmott and his colleagues.
Outcomes
The individual range maps for euptychiine species have applications for studying both the historical biogeography and macroecology of Euptychiina. For example, in combination with the existing phylogeny for the group (Espeland et al., 2023), maps allow us to study whether species evolve in allopatry or sympatry, and how community diversity varies across the Neotropics and which factors potentially influence it. After extracting climate niche information for species, we could also test hypotheses about species diversification (Peña et al., 2010).
Citations
Ballesteros‐Mejia, L., Kitching, I. J., Jetz, W., & Beck, J. (2016). Putting insects on the map:
Near‐global variation in sphingid moth richness along spatial and environmental gradients. Ecography, 40(6), 698–708. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.02438
Espeland et al. A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral
hosts and biogeographic origins. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 903–913 (2023).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02041-9
Peña, C., Nylin, S., Freitas, A. V., & Wahlberg, N. (2010). Biogeographic history of the butterfly
subtribe Euptychiina (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae). Zoologica Scripta, 39(3),
243–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2010.00421.x