The validity of subspecies designations in the common and wide-ranging Neotropical white peacock butterfly, Anartia jatrophae, has been debated for decades and remains an unsettled and contentious taxonomic issue among lepidopterists. Originally described by Linnaeus in the mid-18^th century from specimens obtained from northern South America (Suriname), subsequent authors proposed a variety of subspecies names based on differences in adult external morphology among geographical populations. Many of these differences, however, were subsequently found to occur seasonally within populations, leading some to conclude that only a single polymorphic species should be recognized. Here, we have analysed both new and publicly available mitochondrial DNA barcodes, obtained from specimens collected from southern USA to northern Argentina, to assess whether they could provide insight into this long-standing controversy. Our molecular analyses, using a combination of character-based (nucleotide composition), population genetic and phylogenetic approaches, indicated the presence of at least four distinct genetic lineages that we suggest are distinct at the subspecies level, namely A. j. jatrophae, A. j. luteipicta, A. j. saturata and A. j. semifusca. Justification for these assignments and the proposed geographical distribution of each subspecies within the Americas are discussed.

中文翻译：

---

线粒体DNA条形码可深入了解广泛分布的新热带白孔雀蝴蝶Anartia jatrophae（Nymphalidae：Nymphalinae）的系统志和亚种争议。

常见的和种类繁多的新热带白孔雀蝴蝶Anartia jatrophae在亚种命名中的有效性已经争论了数十年，在鳞翅目动物学家中仍然是一个尚未解决的有争议的分类学问题。最初由Linnaeus的中期18描述^第从南美洲北部（苏里南）获得的标本中找到一个世纪，随后的作者根据地理种群之间成年外部形态的差异，提出了各种亚种名称。然而，随后发现其中许多差异是季节性发生在种群内的，导致一些人得出结论，只应识别一个单一的多态性物种。在这里，我们分析了从美国南部到阿根廷北部收集的标本中获得的新的和公开可用的线粒体DNA条码，以评估它们是否可以提供对这一长期争议的了解。我们的分子分析结合了基于特征的（核苷酸组成），种群遗传和系统发育方法，A.J. jatrophae，A.J。。luteipicta，A.J。。saturata和A.学家 Semifusca。讨论了这些任务的理由以及美洲每个亚种的拟议地理分布。