Search results for "species complex"
showing 10 items of 111 documents
Two consecutive Wolbachia ‐mediated mitochondrial introgressions obscure taxonomy in Palearctic swallowtail butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae)
2019
Swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae) are among the most spectacular and well-known Lepidoptera in the European fauna, but their systematics is not fully elucidated. A notable case is that of Iphiclides feisthamelii which, after more than 180 years since description, still has a debated status, being often considered as a subspecies of Iphiclides podalirius. To elucidate the relationship between the two taxa and the evolutionary processes that led to their separation, we combine mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (mtDNA and nDNA) data, Wolbachia screening, genitalia morphology and wing UV reflectance. Our results show that the two taxa clearly differ in male and female genital morphology, male …
Italian Odonates in the Pandora’s Box: A Comprehensive DNA Barcoding Inventory Shows Taxonomic Warnings at the Holarctic Scale
2020
AbstractThe Odonata are considered among the most endangered freshwater faunal taxa. Their DNA-based monitoring relies on validated reference datasets that are often lacking or do not cover important biogeographical centres of diversification. This study presents the results of a DNA barcoding campaign on Odonata, based on the standard 658 bp 5’ end region of the mitochondrial COI gene, involving the collection of 812 specimens (409 of which barcoded) from peninsular Italy and its main islands (328 localities), belonging to all the 88 species (31 Zygoptera and 57 Anisoptera) known from the country. Additional BOLD and GenBank data from Holarctic samples expanded the dataset to 1294 DNA barc…
Evolutionary history of two cryptic species of northern African jerboas
2020
Abstract Background: Climatic variation and geologic change both play significant roles in shaping species distributions, thus affecting their evolutionary history. In Sahara-Sahel, climatic oscillations shifted the desert extent during the Pliocene-Pleistocene interval, triggering the diversification of several species. Here, we investigated how these biogeographical and ecological events have shaped patterns of genetic diversity and divergence in African Jerboas, desert specialist rodents. We focused on two sister and cryptic species, Jaculus jaculus and J. hirtipes, where we (1) evaluated their genetic differentiation, (2) reconstructed their evolutionary and demographic history; (3) tes…
Cryptic species unveiled: the case of the nematode Spauligodon atlanticus
2013
The implementation of molecular tools in parasitology has led to the discovery of numerous cryptic species. However, detailed morphological studies are needed to evaluate the cryptic nature of such species, as well as to provide an appropriate and formal description. Recent phylogenetic analyses using mitochondrial and nuclear genes have revealed that the nematode Spauligodon atlanticus, parasite of lizards of the genus Gallotia endemic to the Canary Islands, consists of two highly divergent and unrelated lineages, one in the eastern islands and the other in the western ones. This study provides a detailed morphological analysis of the two S. atlanticus lineages characterized genetically, b…
Remarkable ancient divergences amongst neglected lorisiform primates
2015
Lorisiform primates (Primates: Strepsirrhini: Lorisiformes) represent almost 10% of the living primate species and are widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and South/South-East Asia; however, their taxonomy, evolutionary history, and biogeography are still poorly understood. In this study we report the largest molecular phylogeny in terms of the number of represented taxa. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene for 86 lorisiform specimens, including ∼80% of all the species currently recognized. Our results support the monophyly of the Galagidae, but a common ancestry of the Lorisinae and Perodicticinae (family Lorisidae) was not recovered. These three lineages have ea…
Phylogeography of two cryptic species of African desert jerboas (Dipodidae: Jaculus)
2012
The lesser Egyptian jerboa Jaculus jaculus is a desert dwelling rodent that inhabits a broad Arabian–Saharan arid zone. Recently, two distant sympatric lineages were described in North-West Africa, based on morphometric and molecular data, which may correspond to two cryptic species. In the current study, phylogenetic relationships and phylogeographical structure among those lineages and geographical populations from North Africa and the Middle East were investigated. The phylogeographical patterns and genetic diversity of the cytochrome b gene (1110 bp) were addressed on 111 jerboas from 41 localities. We found that the variation in Africa is partitioned into two divergent mitochondrial cl…
Exploring phylogeography and species limits in the Altai vole (Rodentia: Cricetidae)
2013
Natural hybridization between species is not a rare event. In arvicoline rodents, hybridization is known to occur in the wild and/or in captivity. In the Microtus arvalis group, cytogenetic studies revealed that there were two distinct chromosomal forms (2n = 46 but a different fundamental number of autosomes). These forms have been attributed to two cryptic species: the common (arvalis) and Altai (obscurus) voles. Recently, individuals with intermediate karyotypes (F1 and backcrosses) were discovered in central European Russia, and, for this reason, other studies have regarded obscurus and arvalis as conspecific. In the present study, to address the question of the species limits in the Al…
EVALUATION OF ELEVATED PLOIDY AND ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION AS ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS FOR GEOGRAPHIC PARTHENOGENESIS IN EUCYPRIS VIRENS OSTRACODS
2009
Transitions from sexual to asexual reproduction are often coupled with elevations in ploidy. As a consequence, the importance of ploidy per se for the maintenance and spread of asexual populations is unclear. To examine the effects of ploidy and asexual reproduction as independent determinants of the success of asexual lineages, we sampled diploid sexual, diploid asexual, and triploid asexual Eucypris virens ostracods across a European wide range. Applying nuclear and mitochondrial markers, we found that E. virens consists of genetically highly differentiated diploid sexual populations, to the extent that these sexual clades could be considered as cryptic species. All sexual populations wer…
Assessing global range expansion in a cryptic species complex: insights from the red seaweed genus Asparagopsis (Florideophyceae)
2017
The mitochondrial genetic diversity, distribution and invasive potential of multiple cryptic operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of the red invasive seaweed Asparagopsis were assessed by studying introduced Mediterranean and Hawaiian populations. Invasive behavior of each Asparagopsis OTU was inferred from phylogeographic reconstructions, past historical demographic dynamics, recent range expansion assessments and future distributional predictions obtained from demographic models. Genealogical networks resolved Asparagopsis gametophytes and tetrasporophytes into four A. taxiformis and one A. armata cryptic OTUs. Falkenbergia isolates of A. taxiformis L3 were recovered for the first time in t…
A multivariate morphometric analysis of diagnostic traits in southern Italy and Sicily pubescent oaks
2020
AbstractSpecies identification within the species complex ofQ. pubescensis a well-known taxonomic challenge among European botanists. Some of the specific pubescent oak binomials currently accepted in various European floras and checklists were originally described in Sicily and southern Calabria. As a consequence, several species belonging to the pubescent oaks group (Q. pubescens,Q. amplifolia,Q. congesta,Q. dalechampii,Q. leptobalanaandQ. virgiliana) are reported in the taxonomic and phytosociological literature. To verify whether it was possible to associate a diverse set of morphological characters with each of these different taxa, thirteen natural populations of pubescent oak from Si…