Phylogeny of the A phnaeinae: myrmecophilous A frican butterflies with carnivorous and herbivorous life histories

The A phnaeinae ( L epidoptera: L ycaenidae) are a largely A frican subfamily of 278 described species that exhibit extraordinary life‐history variation. The larvae of these butterflies typically form mutualistic associations with ants, and feed on a wide variety of plants, including 23 families in 19 orders. However, at least one species in each of 9 of the 17 genera is aphytophagous, parasitically feeding on the eggs, brood or regurgitations of ants. This diversity in diet and type of symbiotic association makes the phylogenetic relations of the A phnaeinae of particular interest. A phylogenetic hypothesis for the A phnaeinae was inferred from 4.4 kb covering the mitochondrial marker COI and five nuclear markers ( wg, H3 , CAD , GAPDH and EF1α ) for each of 79 ingroup taxa representing 15 of the 17 currently recognized genera, as well as three outgroup taxa. Maximum P arsimony, M aximum L ikelihood and B ayesian I nference analyses all support H eath's systematic revision of the clade based on morphological characters. Ancestral range inference suggests an A frican origin for the subfamily with a single dispersal into A sia. The common ancestor of the aphnaeines likely associated with myrmicine ants in the genus C rematogaster and plants of the order F abales.