Accepted by C. Prieto: 31 May 2018; published: 7 Aug. 2018 ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Copyright © 2018 Magnolia Press Zootaxa 4457 (1): 179–188 http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article 179 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4457.1.10 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C6D8544C-DC31-4B41-AA23-2D43A2808D07 New insights on the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the Neotropical genus Phoebis (Pieridae: Coliadinae) revealed by molecular and morphological data LEIDYS MURILLO-RAMOS 1,4 , RENZO HERNÁNDEZ TORRES 2 , RAYNER NÚÑEZ ÁGUILA 3 & ROGER AYAZO 2 1 Departamento de Biología, Universidad de Sucre, Carrera 28 N° 5-267 Barrio Puerta Roja Sincelejo, Sucre, Colombia. E-mail: leidys.murillo@unisucre.edu.co. 2 Grupo de investigación BIODIVERSIDAD-UNICÓRDOBA. Universidad de Córdoba. E-mail: ayazob@gmail.com. 3 Subdirección de Colecciones Zoológicas y Systemática, Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, La Habana, Cuba. E-mail: raynernunez75@gmail.com 4 Corresponding author Abstract Phoebis Hübner (1819) is a genus of the Neotropical subfamily Coliadinae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). The highest diversity is found in the Greater Antilles islands in the Caribbean region. Although from the taxonomic point of view, Phoebis seems to be a stable genus, there is no phylogenetic hypothesis corroborating the monophyly of the genus. In this study, we used both morphological characters and a genetic dataset consisting of one mitochondrial (COI) and three nuclear markers (RpS5, MDH, Wingless). The matrix was concatenated and analysed with parsimony under implied weights (IW). Also, the concatenated data set was analysed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference evolutionary methods, and ancestral states reconstruction with characters traditionally used for classification of Phoebis was carried out. The same topology was recovered by Parsimony, ML and BI analysis, and suggest that Phoebis is not a monophyletic genus, with Aphrissa and Rhabdodryas nested within it. Our findings allow us to consider the genera Rhabdodryas syn.rev. and Aphrissa syn.rev. to be synonyms of Phoebis. These results have implications for the systematics of Phoebis and the gen- era that should be accepted in Coliadinae. Key words: Lepidoptera, ancestral states reconstruction, phylogeny, Aphrissa, Rhabdodryas Introduction Phoebis Hübner (1819) is a genus of the subfamily Coliadinae (Pieridae), which contains eight described species and 24 subspecies (Warren et al. 2016). The highest diversity of the genus is found in the Antilles of the Caribbean, but they are also distributed from Canada to Argentina (D’Almeida 1940). The species of Phoebis are distinguished by wing patterns varying from yellow to orange. The males have a patch of androconial scales that can invade the discal cell. In females, this character does not occur, but they have a dark edge on the distal margin of the forewing or straight and diagonal line crossing the ventral side of wings, and a brown spot on the disc end of the cell. The coloration of the wings in females is dull compared to males. The species in Phoebis are strong flyers and are known to make long distance migrations. Adults are common in disturbed areas, visiting areas with inflorescences and frequently are collected at the beginning of the wet season (Williams 1930; Oliveira et al. 1998). From a taxonomic point of view, Phoebis seems to be a stable genus. Hübner (1819) introduced the genus based on well-developed brush of silky hairs on the hind wings of males, and short and thickened palpi in both sexes. Further taxonomic work followed by Butler (1878), Forbes (1927), Brown (1929, 1933), Klots (1929, 1931) and D’Almeida (1940) based on morphology and secondary sexual characters of the males, and resulted in significant contributions to the taxonomy of the genus. According to those taxonomic revisions, Phoebis included three subgenera (Phoebis, Rhabdodryas, and Aphrissa). Klots (1931) emphasized the specializations in genitalia