DNA barcoding regions have been used for identifying organisms and delimiting species. Our research focused on butterflies belonging to the Enantia jethys species complex (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) in Mexico, specifically to resolve the taxonomic problem of the number of species in the group. We used the standard segment of approximately 650 base pairs of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Our study is the first to use DNA sequences to examine phylogenetic relationships of this complex species. Three phylogenetic inference methods used were parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference. Twospecies delimitation methods also were used: generalized mixed Yule-coalescent and Poisson tree process (bPTP). We used all the analyses to obtain 155 COI sequences and a persistent clade with four monophyletic groups: three corresponding to Enantia albania (Bates), Enantia jethys (Boisduval), and Enantia mazai Llorente, and a fourth corresponding to a new potential cryptic species, which must be described.

Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to highlight urgent conservation cases and inform environmental policy with appropriate biodiversity information in a timely manner. We present the first ever global analysis of extinction risk in reptiles, based on a random representative sample of 1500 species (16% of all currently known species). To our knowledge, our results provide the first analysis of the global conservation status and distribution patterns of reptiles and the threats affecting them, highlighting conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles. Nearly one in five reptilian species are threatened with extinction, with another one in five species classed as Data Deficient. The proportion of threatened reptile species is highest in freshwater environments, tropical regions and on oceanic islands, while data deficiency was highest in tropical areas, such as Central Africa and Southeast Asia, and among fossorial reptiles. Our results emphasise the need for research attention to be focussed on tropical areas which are experiencing the most dramatic rates of habitat loss, on fossorial reptiles for which there is a chronic lack of data, and on certain taxa such as snakes for which extinction risk may currently be underestimated due to lack of population information. Conservation actions specifically need to mitigate the effects of human-induced habitat loss and harvesting, which are the predominant threats to reptiles.