Abstract
The nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial genes encoding 16s rRNA (16s) and NADH-dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) were analyzed for 30 species in the genus Erebia. A molecular phylogenetic tree inferred from conjunction of 16s and ND1 gene sequences (735 base pair in total) suggested that the genus Erebia is divided into at least three clusters. We tentatively call the clusters a typical Erebia, an atypical Erebia and a far Erebia, respectively. The typical Erebia includes 23 out of 30 species analyzed, implying that this is the main group of the genus Erebia. The atypical Erebia consists of E. sibo, E. kalmuka, E. meta, E. turanica, E. radians, which are species mainly distributed in high-altitude regions of Central Asia. The far Erebia consists of E. wanga and E. rossii, and these two species have a common feature in the spot of their forewings. There are seven sub-groups in the typical Erebia. One of the sub-groups, which consists of E. neriene, E. niphonica, E. alcmena and E. aethiops, is further analyzed using a mitochondrial gene encoding NADH-dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5). We make a particular discussion on this sub-group in the present study.
