Inferring the provenance of an alien species with DNA barcodes: the neotropical butterfly Dryas iulia in Thailand

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 13;9(8):e104076. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104076. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The Neotropical butterfly Dryas iulia has been collected from several locations in Thailand and Malaysia since 2007, and has been observed breeding in the wild, using introduced Passiflora foetida as a larval host plant. The butterfly is bred by a butterfly house in Phuket, Thailand, for release at weddings and Buddhist ceremonies, and we hypothesized that this butterfly house was the source of wild, Thai individuals. We compared wing patterns and COI barcodes from two, wild Thai populations with individuals obtained from this butterfly house. All Thai individuals resemble the subspecies D. iulia modesta, and barcodes from wild and captive Thai specimens were identical. This unique, Thai barcode was not found in any of the 30 specimens sampled from the wild in the species' native range, but is most similar to specimens from Costa Rica, where many exporting butterfly farms are located. These data implicate the butterfly house as the source of Thailand's wild D. iulia populations, which are currently so widespread that eradication efforts are unlikely to be successful.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Biodiversity
  • Butterflies / classification
  • Butterflies / genetics*
  • DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic
  • Introduced Species*
  • Larva / genetics
  • Larva / physiology
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Thailand

Associated data

  • GENBANK/GU157119
  • GENBANK/GU157122
  • GENBANK/GU157123
  • GENBANK/GU157124
  • GENBANK/GU157126
  • GENBANK/GU157127
  • GENBANK/GU157128
  • GENBANK/GU157129
  • GENBANK/GU157130
  • GENBANK/GU157131
  • GENBANK/GU333906
  • GENBANK/GU333908
  • GENBANK/GU659588
  • GENBANK/GU659594
  • GENBANK/GU659619
  • GENBANK/GU659620
  • GENBANK/GU659621
  • GENBANK/GU659622
  • GENBANK/GU659623
  • GENBANK/GU659624
  • GENBANK/GU659625
  • GENBANK/GU659626
  • GENBANK/GU659691
  • GENBANK/GU666782
  • GENBANK/HM416486
  • GENBANK/JN201279
  • GENBANK/JN201280
  • GENBANK/JQ536893
  • GENBANK/KJ496350
  • GENBANK/KJ496351
  • GENBANK/KJ496352
  • GENBANK/KJ496353
  • GENBANK/KJ496354
  • GENBANK/KJ496355
  • GENBANK/KJ496356
  • GENBANK/KJ496357
  • GENBANK/KJ496358
  • GENBANK/KJ496359
  • GENBANK/KJ496360
  • GENBANK/KJ496361
  • GENBANK/KJ496362
  • GENBANK/KJ496363
  • GENBANK/KJ496364
  • GENBANK/KJ496365
  • GENBANK/KJ496366
  • GENBANK/KJ496367

Grants and funding

National Science Foundation Grant 1120380 to DJL; http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1120380. National Science Foundation Grant 0742457 funded NAB; http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0742457. Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York Research Award 60051-40 41 to DJL; https://www.rfcuny.org/rfwebsite/research/content.aspx?catID=1190. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.