Moths of the Argyrotaenia franciscana species group represent a challenging case of evolutionary lability and taxonomic complexity in California. We studied their evolutionary relationships using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from 49 specimens in 18 populations of the A. franciscana group, as well as 2 outgroup species. Most specimens were sequenced over a 799-bp segment of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Single specimens each of A. franciscana insulana Powell and A. citrana (Fernald) were sequenced over a 2.3-kb region including COI, tRNA leucine (UUR), and cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII). mtDNA variation within and among Argyrotaenia citrana,A. franciscana (Walsingham), and A. franciscana insulana is most simply interpreted as DNA polymorphism within a single species for which the oldest name is A. franciscana. Maximal divergence among haplotypes was 3.8%, which is on the high end of the range for intraspecific mtDNA variation in Lepidoptera. Argyrotaenia niscana (Kearfott) is most closely related to a new species, and this pair forms the closest outgroup to the A. franciscana-citrana complex. The status of A. isolatissima Powell remains uncertain.
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Landry et al. (1999) studied this question.
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