| Phylogenetic relationships of various populations and species of moths in the Tortricinae (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) were generated using morphology, mitochondrial DNA sequences from the Cytochrome Oxidase I gene, and a combination of these two methods.; Molecular information proved to be indispensable to understanding species boundaries in one species complex where morphological characters did not provide clear information. In an exclusively molecular investigation, mtDNA variation in a 475 base pair segment of the COI gene was used to clarify relationships among populations and between closely related species in the Argyrospila Group of the genus Archips Hbn. (Archipini). Thirty populations of Archips argyrospila (Walker), 4 populations of A. mortuana Kearfott, 4 populations of A. goyerana Kruse, and 1 specimen of each of four outgroup species were compared. Host races and some pheromone types within A. argyrospila did not correspond to mtDNA variation in this analysis. Molecular analyses supported phylogenetic and ecological interpretations of species status applied to A. goyerana but not A. mortuana, and supported the existence of a phylogenetically distinct West Coast species.; Excellent resolution was obtained when molecular information was combined with morphological data to resolve deeper relationships within the genus Archips. The morphology of all known Xylosteana Group members found in North America was examined, along with variation in a 816 base pair segment of the mtDNA COI gene for 17 of these species, 3 of 5 species from the related Packardiana Group (Archips), and 3 outgroup genera. Morphological and molecular analyses were combined to produce a robust phylogeny, to revise previous hypotheses of species group arrangements of Archips in North America, and to draft an updated systematic list of North American Archips species.; In another genus of tortricids where it was not practical to obtain molecular data, the New World genus Sparganothoides Lambert and Powell (tribe Sparganothini), morphological character variation was sufficient to provide a well resolved phylogeny. A hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships of species and six monophyletic species groups of Sparganothoides is provided, a classification proposed, and a key given to all 32 species based primarily on features of the male genitalia. |
