Strikingly variable divergence times inferred across an Amazonian butterfly 'suture zone'.

ABSTRACT: 'Suture zones' are areas where hybrid and contact zones of multiple taxa are clustered. Such zones have been regarded as strong evidence for allopatric divergence by proponents of the Pleistocene forest refugia theory, a vicariance hypothesis frequently used to explain diversification in the Amazon basin. A central prediction of the refugia and other vicariance theories is that the taxa should have a common history so that divergence times should be coincident among taxa. A suture zone for Ithomiinae butterflies near Tarapoto, NE Peru, was therefore studied to examine divergence times of taxa in contact across the zone. We sequenced 1619bp of the mitochondrial COI/COII region in 172 individuals of 31 species from across the suture zone. Inferred divergence times differed remarkably, with d

SUBMITTER: Whinnett A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1599783 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature