Whole genomes from the extinct Xerces Blue butterfly can help identify declining insect species

dc.contributor.author de-Dios, Toni ca
dc.contributor.author Caballero-López, Berta ca
dc.contributor.author Lalueza-Fox, Carles ca
dc.contributor.other Consorci del Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona ca
dc.coverage.spatial San Francisco (Califòrnia) ca
dc.coverage.spatial Estats Units d'Amèrica ca
dc.date.accessioned 2025-11-05T13:10:53Z
dc.date.available 2025-11-05T13:10:53Z
dc.date.issued 2024-10-04
dc.description The Xerces Blue (Glaucopsyche xerces) is considered to be the first butterfly to become extinct in historical times. It was notable for its chalky lavender wings with conspicuous white spots on the ventral wings. The last individuals were collected in their restricted habitat, in the dunes near the Presidio military base in San Francisco, in 1941. We sequenced the genomes of four 80- to 100-year- old Xerces Blue, and seven historical and one modern specimens of its closest relative, the Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus). We compared these to a novel annotated genome of the Green-Underside Blue (Glaucopsyche alexis). Phylogenetic relationships inferred from complete mitochondrial genomes indicate that Xerces Blue was a distinct species that diverged from the Silvery Blue lineage at least 850,000 years ago. Using nuclear genomes, both species experienced population growth during the Eemian interglacial period, but the Xerces Blue decreased to a very low effective population size subsequently, a trend opposite to that observed in the Silvery Blue. Runs of homozygosity and deleterious load in the former were significantly greater than in the later, suggesting a higher incidence of inbreeding. These signals of population decline observed in Xerces Blue could be used to identify and monitor other insects threatened by human activities, whose extinction patterns are still not well known.
dc.format application/pdf ca
dc.format.extent 21 p. ca
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/2072/537885
dc.identifier https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.87928
dc.identifier.citation eLife, núm. 12:RP87928 (2024), p.1-21 ca
dc.identifier.entitat consorcis ca
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/11703/138519
dc.language eng ca
dc.provenance Recercat (Dipòsit de la Recerca de Catalunya) ca
dc.rights.accessrights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ca
dc.subject Papallones ca
dc.subject Endogàmia i exogàmia ca
dc.subject Extinció (Biologia) ca
dc.subject Lepidòpters ca
dc.subject Artròpodes ca
dc.subject.category Ciència i tecnologia ca
dc.subject.forma articles ca
dc.title Whole genomes from the extinct Xerces Blue butterfly can help identify declining insect species
dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver info:eu-repo/semantics/article ca
metadadalocal.dependencia 8008920

Fitxers