A genetic atlas for the butterflies of continental Canada and United States

Multi-locus genetic data for phylogeographic studies is generally limited in geographic and taxonomic scope as most studies only examine a few related species. The strong adoption of DNA barcoding has generated large datasets of mtDNA COI sequences. This work examines the butterfly fauna of Canada and United States based on 13,236 COI barcode records derived from 619 species. It compiles i) geographic maps depicting the spatial distribution of haplotypes, ii) haplotype networks (minimum spanning trees), and iii) standard indices of genetic diversity such as nucleotide diversity (pi), haplotype richness (H), and a measure of spatial genetic structure (GST). High intraspecific genetic diversity and marked spatial structure were observed in the northwestern and southern North America, as well as in proximity to mountain chains. While species generally displayed concordance between genetic diversity and spatial structure, some revealed incongruence between these two metrics. Interestingly, most species falling in this category shared their barcode sequences with one at least other species. Aside from revealing large-scale phylogeographic patterns and shedding light on the processes underlying these patterns, this work also exposed cases of potential synonymy and hybridization.