A New Species of the Genus Parasa Moore (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae) from Yemen

A new species Parasa dusii Solovyev and Saldaitis from northern Yemen is described (holotype in Museum Witt, Munich; Germany). The species has tendency to lose the green pigment typical for other congeners. It is provisionally placed into the genus Parasa Moore, 1859 where it is closely related to P. divisa West, 1940, P. catori Bethune-Baker, 1911, P. marginata West, 1940, P. thamia Rungs, 1951, P. dentina Hering, 1932, P. ananii Karsch, 1896, and P. semiochracea Hering, 1933. The relationship of the new species to these African species suggests its secondary penetration into the Arabian Peninsula from an origin in tropical Africa. The problems of monophyly of the genus Parasa and several associated genera are briefly discussed. All important characters of the new species, and some related species, are illustrated

Phylogeny and Biogeography of Hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae): Evidence from Five Nuclear Genes

The 1400 species of hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) comprise one of most conspicuous and well-studied groups of insects, and provide model systems for diverse biological disciplines. However, a robust phylogenetic framework for the family is currently lacking. Morphology is unable to confidently determine relationships among most groups. As a major step toward understanding relationships of this model group, we have undertaken the first large-scale molecular phylogenetic analysis of hawkmoths representing all subfamilies, tribes and subtribes.The data set consisted of 131 sphingid species and 6793 bp of sequence from five protein-coding nuclear genes. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses provided strong support for more than two-thirds of all nodes, including strong signal for or against nearly all of the fifteen current subfamily, tribal and sub-tribal groupings. Monophyly was strongly supported for some of these, including Macroglossinae, Sphinginae, Acherontiini, Ambulycini, Philampelini, Choerocampina, and Hemarina. Other groupings proved para- or polyphyletic, and will need significant redefinition; these include Smerinthinae, Smerinthini, Sphingini, Sphingulini, Dilophonotini, Dilophonotina, Macroglossini, and Macroglossina. The basal divergence, strongly supported, is between Macroglossinae and Smerinthinae+Sphinginae. All genes contribute significantly to the signal from the combined data set, and there is little conflict between genes. Ancestral state reconstruction reveals multiple separate origins of New World and Old World radiations.Our study provides the first comprehensive phylogeny of one of the most conspicuous and well-studied insects. The molecular phylogeny challenges current concepts of Sphingidae based on morphology, and provides a foundation for a new classification. While there are multiple independent origins of New World and Old World radiations, we conclude that broad-scale geographic distribution in hawkmoths is more phylogenetically conserved than previously postulated