Molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of five Ethmia (Hübner, 1819) morfo-species from Türkiye

The genus Ethmia (Hübner, 1819) is a medium-sized moth with a global distribution that includes species and species groups with controversial systematics in terms of morphology. In modern systematic studies, determining species boundaries is an important step in revealing biodiversity. DNA barcoding allows testing species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships of controversial morpho-species. The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene used as a DNA barcode is a universal marker used for species identification and delimitation in the animal kingdom. In this study, the COI genes of Ethmia amasina, Ethmia hakkarica, Ethmia caradjae, Ethmia similis and Ethmia tripunctella species from Türkiye, documented morphologically and recorded in the CESA collection, were sequenced for the first time. Genetic distances between close congeners were determined using the Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model using the barcodes of five Ethmia species. Bayesian inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) algorithms were used to reveal the phylogenetic relationships among the members of the genus. According to the genetic distance analysis results, Ethmia caradjae, E. similis, E. tripunctella and E. amasina are distinct taxa with strong species boundaries (>0.02). However, no significant genetic distance (0.01) was detected between Ethmia amasina and Ethmia hakkarica populations. According to the results of phylogenetic analysis, in the clade where the presented species are located, Ethmia caradjae and E. bipunctella are sister and form a clade by branching to these species, respectively, E. similis and E. similis. A clade formed by sister positions of E. amasina and E. hakkarica was connected to this clade, and E. tripunctella was closely related to these species. In addition, while the branch lengths of Ethmia caradjae, E. similis, E. tripunctella and E. amasina were at the species level, it was determined that although a lineage split was seen in the E. amasina and E. hakkarica distinction, it was not at the species level. Therefore, Ethmia hakkarica is a synonym of E. amasina according to the priority rule