The Caribbean cube moth

The Riodinidae are one of the six butterfly families. Most of its 1300 species are native to the Neotropics, but a single monotypic genus lives in the West Indies. The Caribbean Dianesia carteri is restricted to Cuba and the Bahamas, where several isolated populations are known. An initial approach using DNA barcodes suggests that Dianesia may comprise more than one species. As part of the project, several populations will be analysed using high-throughput sequencing to compare them and redefine their taxonomic status.